Unkept Promise
by MiLoV
Summary: Dean finds Rory and Jess at her house....alone.... I'm not much good at summaries, so just read it!;Lit.
1. The New Kid

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Maggie Perkins  
  
Summary: Jess moves to Stars Hollow when he's seven years old, but he wears big glasses and has a speach problem. Most consider him a dork, but one of the popular girls, named Rory, sees a different side of him....or does she?  
  
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"Hey Lukey, when is that nephew of yours getting into town." Asked Lorelai, taking a sip of her coffee.  
  
"He's getting in sometime this week. He's actually around Rory's age. He likes reading too. Maybe they'll become friends or something." Luke replied while pouring Lorelai's daughter, Rory, another cup of coffee. He stared down at the seven year old brunett. "You got her hooked on caffeine the moment you got pregnant. It's all your fault!" He shook his finger at Lorelai and she feigned innocence.  
  
"It's like it was meant to be." She stared lovingly at her daughter as Luke glared at her. "Ok! Soo NOT my fault! Who am I to play around with Destiny?" She smiled innocently. He rolled his eyes and went back to taking orders. "Who's ready for their first day of second grade??"  
  
"OO! ME!! ME!!" Yelled Rory, jumping up and down. Rory absolutely loved school and she loved doing her homework and she ADORED reading. "Can we go yet? Can we go yet?" Lorelai nodded and they left Luke's diner for the school. Rory had been one of the more popular girls at Stars Hollow Elementary School when she was in first grade along with her best friend, Lane Kim. She had never asked to be popular, but because of her beauty and kindness, it just sort of happened.  
  
She was actually -beautiful- for a second grader and almost every guy in their class had a crush on her....her or Maggie Perkins. Maggie was Rory's elementary school rival. Maggie hated Rory because she was so much more popular and well-liked than herself. That was one thing Rory was dreading about second grade, having to deal with her again.  
  
"RORY!" Squealed a voice from behind Lorelai and Rory. "Rory, I'm so excited!"  
  
"I know! Me too!!" The two girls giggled as they approached the school building.  
  
"Well, girls. Here we are. You guys have a good day ok?" Lorelai kissed each girl on the head and headed off to work.  
  
"Bye!" The two girls yelled. They looked at the school, then looked at each other and smiled. They couldn't wait to get this year started.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The little black-headed boy stepped off the bus and looked up from his book. This place was so much different from New York. It was smaller..and most definitely quieter. He looked around for Luke's diner, but didn't see anything. He adjusted the thick, black glasses that sat on his nose so they wouldn't fall off. He stopped a woman on the street and asked her for directions. "Ex-excuse me, ma'am c-could you tell me where L-luke's Diner is?" The little boy stuttered. He had a speach problem. He received the directions and headed to his destination. He pushed the door open and looked around for the man he had seen in the picture his mom gave to him. There he was. The little boy walked up to the counter and hopped up onto a stool. "L-luke?" The little boy questioned.  
  
"Yeah that's me..."  
  
"It's m-me. J-Jess." He smiled a little and set his book up on the counter.  
  
"Hi, Jess. I wasn't expecting you till later."  
  
"M-my mom s-sent me ear-ly." Luke hadn't known about the speach problem before this and was kind of shocked.  
  
"Well, come on up stairs and I'll show you around a little bit, ok?" Jess hopped off the stool and walked to the stairs. Luke put a hand on the kid's back and led him up. Luke wasn't very good with kids, but this kid seemed ok. He seemed well-mannered and quiet.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"He's here." Luke stated to Lorelai as she sat drinking her coffee.  
  
"Who? Your nephew?" Luke nodded.  
  
"Yep. Liz sent him early. Didn't say why, just did."  
  
"Wow...why did she send him here in the first place?" Lorelai asked, hoping the kid wasn't into trouble or anything...but he was seven years old!  
  
"Liz is going through a hard time right now and she's trying to find a steady job and stuff like that. I don't know how long he's gonna be here. A year at the most, I'm guessing." Jimmy, Jess' father, had just walked out on them, but Luke didn't feel the need to go spreading that around without Jess' permission.  
  
"A year? Wow..." Rory came bounding in from her first day of school.  
  
"Mommy! Mommy! Guess what! My teacher's name is Mr. Sarkney and he's so cool! He let me read out loud to the class and everything! It was so much fun! I ran into Maggie too! She's such a snob!" At that time, Jess came down the stairs, holding a book in front of his face, almost tripping Luke.  
  
"Sorry! S-sorry, L-luke, I'm s-sorry!" Jess apologized the best he could. "Please d-don't k-kick me ou-out!" His stuttering always got worse when he was upset. Luke looked down at the small boy.  
  
"Jess, I'm not going to kick you out ok?" Jess nodded and went back to reading, hopping up on a stool once again. Rory leaned over to her mom and whispered:  
  
"Luke's nephew is a dork!" Lorelai kicked her daughter's shin.  
  
"Don't say that! That's not nice!" She growled.  
  
"Well, he is! I mean look at his glasses! And he stutters!" Rory looked at her mom with an -I know you were thinking the same thing- face. The two were whispering, but Jess heard everything they said. He hated it when people made fun of him. The doctors said he would grow out of the whole stuttering thing, but until then, he wouldn't speak...well at least not much.  
  
"Lorelai, Rory."  
  
"What? What? We weren't saying anything!" Lorelai and Rory turned around and tried to pretend they hadn't been talking secretly.  
  
"I want you to meet my nephew, Jess Mariano." Rory looked at her mother and then looked at the little boy who was obviously enveloped in the book he was reading. "Uh...Jess?" Luke clapped his hands in front of the little boy's face, causing him to practically jump out of his seat.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I want you to meet Lorelai and her daughter Rory. They come in here everyday, so you might as well get to know them. Rory's actually in your class." Jess smiled brightly at this beautiful girl who was before him. He shook the two girl's hands and looked down bashfully.  
  
"It's n-nice to m-meet you." Rory giggled at his stutter and Lorelai elbowed her in the ribs.  
  
"OW!" Yelped Rory. "What was that for!?!"  
  
"You know what it was for!" She turned and smiled at Luke. "We must be going. Bye! Jess, it was great meeting you!" She grabbed Rory's hand and awaited her daughter to say something to Jess. But when she didn't, she elbowed her again.  
  
"OW!!!" She glared up at her mother and then looked back at Jess and gave him a sweet smile. "It was great meeting you too, Jess!" He nodded sadly, knowing she had laughed at him. That stupid stutter! ARGH!  
  
*****  
  
"Now, Rory. You have to understand. He can't help his stutter, ok? It's something that takes a lot of time and effort to correct. He was born with it. So don't make fun of him ok?" Rory looked down, ashamed at herself.  
  
"I didn't know it couldn't be helped." She shook her head sadly. "I was acting just like those snobby popular kids."  
  
"Guess those snobby-popular girl pills are starting to kick in already, huh?"  
  
"Yeah...I won't do it again." Rory looked down at her shoes for the rest of the way home. She decided that she would never make fun of a person that she didn't know-because you never know what their situation might be....but she would let herself make fun of Maggie Perkins-she got on Rory's nerves so bad!  
  
THE NEXT DAY- SCHOOL  
  
Rory and Lane walked into school the next day and heard some girls whispering in the corner of the classroom. "That kid from New York is so dorky! Did you see his glasses?" The girls giggled as another one began to speak.  
  
"And when he passed me in the hall this morning, he bumped into me and said he was sorry and guess what! He stutters! It's so funny!" Rory heard the girls, as did Lane. Rory had already told Lane about it and they had agreed not to make fun of him. This could mean that they ceased being popular, but they decided it was best not to make fun of people. If that was the only way to get popular...then it was just stupid.  
  
Jess sat in the corner desk in the back row, his nose buried in another book. Lane looked at her friend. "Just because we aren't making fun of him, doesn't mean that we have to hang out with him right?"  
  
"Of course we don't! We just have to be...nice to him if he talks to us." Lane nodded in agreement.  
  
LUNCH  
  
"Hey, g-give me my g-glasses!" Yelled Jess as some of the guys were tossing his big glasses around.  
  
"W-what?" Mocked one of them, named Dean. Dean was tall for his age, and very scrawny. His shaggy hair would always fall over his eyes. He was one of the popular kids.  
  
"Give 'em b-back!" Dean dropped them on the grass and Jess picked them up and put them back on. He looked for his book that they had taken...when he found it, the pages were torn and the words were smeared because the grass had been wet. His eyes filled with tears as he ran to the back of the school to finish his lunch. Rory and Lane watched the whole thing from a distance, feeling bad for Jess.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
AFTER SCHOOL  
  
"Hey, Jess, how was your first day of school?" Luke asked as his nephew trudged through the diner. Jess didn't answer, he just walked upstairs. Luke figured he must be tired...but if he only knew how wrong he was.  
  
Jess threw his backpack on the floor and threw his book onto his bed. Tears streamed down his face. "I h-hate S-Stars Hollow! I h-hate it!" He yelled as he threw himself on his bed and cried his little heart out. He hated that his mom couldn't afford to get him better glasses that didn't look so dorky and that his mom couldn't afford to get his speech problem corrected. He hated it.  
  
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A/N: Hey! I hope you liked this chapter! Jess is out of character, I know, but he is little. Just wait until later chapters, you'll understand why he acts sweet now and different later. Please REVIEW! 


	2. Crush

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Maggie Perkins  
  
Summary: Jess can't take it anymore. Does Rory have her first crush?  
  
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4 MONTHS LATER  
  
"Jess, could you read the next paragraph to the class, please?" Asked Mr. Sarkney. Jess looked up with a horrified look on his face.  
  
"No." He replied.  
  
"Jess, please read for us." The whole class looked at him and smiled evilly. Jess shook his head again. "Jess, read now." The teacher forced. He looked down at the book and then back up at the teacher, realizing he was dead serious.  
  
"M-Marty went to sc-school one d-day. H-he loved t-to play b-ball w-with his f-friends." The whole class was snickering except for the teacher, Rory, and Lane. The teacher was oblivious to the fact that the whole class was laughing at Jess. Jess slumped further down into his seat. "H-he was goo-good at p-playing b-ball." The class began to laugh louder. "S-stop!" Jess yelled, tears comming into his eyes once again. "I h-hate this sc- school!" He yelled as he ran out of the classroom. Rory stood up from her chair.  
  
"Why do you guys alway laugh at him! He can't help it!" She yelled as she chased after him. The class continued laughing as she raced out the door.  
  
"Class cut it out!" The teacher tried to yell over the top of them.  
  
******  
  
"JESS!! Jess, wait!" Rory chased the little boy. She stumbled across a book and picked it up. She opened it and it read: Jess M. "HEY, JESS!!!" She followed him to the bridge where he sat with his head in his hands. She walked over to him and put the book down next to him. "You dropped this." She heaved, out of breath. "Where did you learn to run like that?" She asked, still out of breath. He looked up at her out of the corner of his eye and then looked back down at his reflection.  
  
"W-what do y-you want?" He asked solemnly.  
  
"Nothing...I just noticed that you dropped your book." He nodded and continued looking down. He had had a crush on her from day one and he would always get nervous around her. He decided that he had to leave Stars Hollow, whether Luke liked it or not. He was going to leave that afternoon. He stood up and stared into the bright blue angelic eyes of Rory Gilmore. He took off his glasses.  
  
"Thanks." He said as he leaned forward and quickly pecked Rory's lips with his own and ran off. Rory touched her lips and turned around to watch Jess run off. She felt a weird feeling in her stomach...but she quickly dismissed it and turned back around and realized he had once again forgotten his book. She picked it up and carried it home with her. She wasn't going to go back to school that day.  
  
Even though Jess was dorky, Rory thought he was kind of....sweet.  
  
~*~*~  
  
"Rory?" The little girl turned around from watching TV.  
  
"Hey Mommy!" Lorelai came and sat down on the couch next to her daughter, with a confused look on her face.  
  
"What are you doing home? It's 2:00..you don't get off until 3:30."  
  
"I uhh..." Rory looked down at the ground. She wasn't going to lie to her mom. "It was awful mom! They were horrible to him!" Lorelai's confused look remained.  
  
"Who? What happened?"  
  
"You know Jess? Luke's nephew?" She nodded. "Everybody always makes fun of him and I never do anything about it! I feel horrible! And today, during our reading class, Mr. Sarkney asked Jess to read to the class and he has that speech problem! The kids were laughing at him and finally Jess just ran out of the class. I stood up and told them to stop laughing, but they didn't listen....so I followed him."  
  
"You followed Jess? Where?"  
  
"To the bridge. He had dropped his book and I took it to him." Rory all of a sudden got a small smirk on her sweet little face. "He said, 'thanks', and then kissed me." Her smirk turned into a smile.  
  
"Well, dear daughter of mine, I think you have your first crush." Rory's smile quickly disappeared.  
  
"I do not!" Her face turned blood red. She didn't! Did she? He was the dorkiest kid in the class...no of course she didn't like him. Boys were weird and foreign to Rory...she knew boys liked her, but she really had no clue as to why. *Yes, boys are icky....* she thought, trying to convince herself.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Jess, your teacher said you left class and-" Luke stopped when he realized Jess wasn't up in the apartment. "Jess?!" He went over to Jess' side of the room. There was a note laying on his pillow. It read:  
  
Uncle Luke,  
  
I have to leave. Everybody hates me. I'm going home. I'll call you when I get back to New York.  
  
Luke threw the piece of paper on the ground and ran out the door to the bus stop. There sat Jess. He walked over and silently sat down next to his crying nephew. Jess looked up and jumped to the other side of the bench. "L- Luke!"  
  
"Whoa! Sorry I scared you, kid." The two looked straight ahead, not saying anything. Jess finally decided to speak.  
  
"You c-can't stop m-me." He stated, a look of determination on his small face.  
  
"I know..." Luke was sad that Jess wanted to leave because he was the first kid Luke actually liked (besides Rory of course). The bus finally came and stopped in front of the bench. Jess stood up and grabbed his bag. Luke stood up as well. Jess started to get on the bus, when Luke ran over and caught him by the arm and turned him around. He got on his knees and held both of Jess' arms. "Jess, you promise me one thing. Don't you ever change. Ok?" The little boy looked at his uncle, tears still swimming in his eyes. "Don't you change from being a good kid, Jess." Jess nodded.  
  
"I p-promise Luke. I'll be a goo-good boy always." Luke smiled at him and pulled him into a hug. When they let go, Jess slung his bag over his shoulder and walked onto the bus. Luke watched him walk to the back through the windows. Jess looked out at his uncle and waved a small wave. Luke waved back, hoping that one day, Jess would come back and visit him. *Jess won't change, he's a good kid.* Luke thought.  
  
Jess WAS going to change.....for the bad.  
  
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A/N: I hope you guys are liking this story! PLEASE REVIEW!!! 


	3. And Thus, Comes the Change

Disclaimer: I don't own anything  
  
Summary: Rory's "First" kiss . Jess lands himself in prison?  
  
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(Rory is 15 and is 6 months away from turning 16)  
  
"Rory, he's here!!!" Lorelai's voice echoed throughout the Gilmore household. Rory walked out of her room, looking beautiful. She wore a pinkish dress with a pink sweater over the top. "My baby's goin on her first date tonight! I feel so OLD!" She covered her face.  
  
"But you still look good!" Rory said trying to brighten her mother's fake hurt spirits.  
  
"Why thank ya!" There was a knock at the door. "I'll get it!! OO, wait! Go upstairs and I'll call you to come down after he comes inside, ok?" Lorelai said pushing Rory up the stairs.  
  
"Mom, this isn't my prom for goodness sakes!"  
  
"Yeah yeah, GO!" Rory walked up the stairs and Lorelai opened the door. "Dean." She greeted as she led him inside and into the living room. "I'll get Rory." She called up the stairs. "RORY!!!" Rory came down the stairs slowly, trying to make it dramatic.  
  
"Wow, you look....nice." Dean said. He didn't have much of an imagination as you can tell. *The only word he could think of was 'nice'.* Rory winced.  
  
"Thank you..." She slipped on her coat, said goodbye to her mother and walked out to Dean's car.  
  
AFTER THE DATE  
  
"I had a great time, Rory." He held her hand as they walked up to her porch.  
  
"Yeah, me too." She didn't really mean it, she was just trying to be polite. Before she could do anything, his lips were on hers with a smothering kiss. She gently backed away.  
  
"Goodnight, Dean." She walked inside and caught her mother looking out the window. "Mom." Lorelai looked up quickly and pretended to be looking for something by the window.  
  
"Danget, I can't find it-Rory!" She pretended to just notice her.  
  
"Mom, you don't have to fake it. I saw you spying on us." Lorelai smiled innocently and then the smile faded quickly.  
  
"All right fine, you caught me....YOU GOT YOUR FIRST KISS!!!!" She squealed. Rory looked down... "What? Was it bad?"  
  
"Mom, that wasn't my first kiss." She stared at her daughter in complete horrific shock.  
  
"WHAT! You've been kissed before and you haven't told mommy about it? Bad Rory!" She scolded.  
  
"I DID tell you about it, mom. Luke's nephew gave me my first kiss." She smiled, just remembering the little boy.  
  
"Well that wasn't a real first kiss! When you get your first kiss, you feel something...like deep down in your gut...that's your first REAL kiss..." Rory nodded quietly and went off to her room. She laid down on her bed, remembering the feeling that she had deep within her gut when Jess kissed her. It was crazy she still thought about him. It was insane for that matter, considering it had been nine years ago...but she could never seem to like a guy because every time she would start to like someone, she would think of Jess. How crazy and twisted is that?  
  
*I wonder what he's doing right now.....*  
  
~***~***~***~***~***~***~  
  
Jess sometimes thought about Rory, but not much because he was constantly dealing with his mother's behavior.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
"Jess, where are you going?"  
  
"Out. I'll be back around one." He walked out the door and slammed it shut. His sweet sixteenth birthday hadn't been an entire failure, considering his mother got drunk at his so-called party.  
  
"We have guests!" Liz yelled after him, completely drunk. He shook his head. He hated this, she did this last year. She invited all of her friends and three of his "friends" (who he didn't really know that well) and got completely drunk. She must really hate him. Which wasn't exactly true, but she had no idea how to be a real mother, which pretty much sucked for Jess.  
  
His best friend, Kyle, was throwing him a party down at an abandoned warehouse. He knocked on the large door and it slid open. "Jess!" Kyle yelled over the music and patted his friend on the back. "I told you this would be the biggest party of the year!!" Jess looked around at all these people. He didn't know hardly any of them. They just thought this was a regular party, not a birthday party. Oh well, it was better than being at his own house.  
  
~~~~~  
  
After most of the people had left, a group of guys came up to Jess and Kyle. Jess recognized these guys, they were the guys he had always wanted to hang out with. They seemed really cool and they were about three or four years older than him. "Happy Birthday, Jess." The 'leader', Tommy, said. "You guys want to hang out with us tonight?" Jess looked at Kyle who had a big smile on his face. The two nodded there heads, trying not to seem too excited. They left the building and got into one of their cars. "Ya know, we always thought you guys were pretty cool for your age. We decided that we're gonna initiate you fellas." The two boys nodded and kind of looked at each other. This could be interesting.  
  
~~~~~  
  
"Tommy! NO!!!" Jess yelled running towards Tommy and knocking the gun out of his hands. But he was too late, the clerk was laying on the ground, blood spilling from his wound. Tommy and the guys had taken him and Kyle to rob a drug store. Tommy had promised no one would get hurt.....but he lied....the guys tried to drag Jess out of the store, but he couldn't just leave the guy laying there. "We can't just leave!" He yelled, trying so desperately hard to help this man.  
  
"Jess, let's go!" The clerk had pushed a button behind the counter that had automatically called the cops and that was what caused Tommy to shoot him. "Jess!" Kyle yelled. The police came and took the whole group away, including Jess and Kyle. The way the group figured it, Jess was the one who landed them in jail and from then on he wasn't treated very well and unnfortunately, they all shared the same cell.  
  
An officer had finally come and told them that Tommy was the only one that was going to have to stay for the trial because he was the one who shot the guy. Friends and parents paid the kid's bail and the rest of the group left and as they walked out, Tommy reached through the bars and grabbed Jess by the shirt. "You won't get away with this. I'm gonna kill you." Jess pulled away quickly and left, shaken.  
  
There stood Liz outside. "Hey." She reached out and hugged him.  
  
"Don't you ever do that again, do you hear me!" He pulled away and nodded. She wasn't going to punish him...because she really didn't know how to.  
  
A FEW WEEKS LATER  
  
Jess hadn't seen Kyle in awhile and went to find him. He searched everywhere he thought his friend would be. He finally found him....he was hanging out with the guys he had been in prison with. "Kyle!" Kyle rolled his eyes and came over to Jess.  
  
"What do you want?" He asked coldly.  
  
"Kyle, why are still haging out with them? They got us put in jail!" He yelled.  
  
"No, Jess. YOU did! They like haging out with me, Jess! Do you know the last time that someone actually liked hanging out with me?"  
  
"I liked hanging out with you!"  
  
"But you were a dork, Jess! You were the only person that would let me hang out with you!" He yelled.  
  
"I'm not a dork anymore, Kyle."  
  
"Just because you got rid of your stutter and those retarded glasses, doesn't mean that you're not a dork anymore! Just stay away from Jess." He walked off and left Jess. They were obviously not as good of friends as Jess thought they were. He didn't consider himself "dorky" anymore....he thought he was doing a lot better....getting rid of the whole stuttering thing and the big glasses. He guessed he was wrong.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
After that, Jess fell in with the wrong group, and he really couldn't have cared less. He used to be careful of who he hung out with, but now he didn't give it a second thought. He started smoking and drinking selling drugs. He was always paranoid and watched his back, afraid that Tommy was still out to get him for getting him put in jail. He had started all of this crap and then sometime later began to want to get out of all of this... but there was no one that could save from himself...or, so he thought.  
  
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A/N: I'm very unsure about this chapter, I think I kind of rushed it...possibly, but I'm still working on that. But please bear with me! I don't know if this is the chapter that you guys wanted, but I thought that maybe you guys should have a look into what he was getting into before he gets moved to Stars Hollow. Anyway- I'm loving the reviews! Please keep on reviewing!!! thanks!! 


	4. I have Fallen

Disclaimer- I own no one, except Steven.  
  
Summary: Jess gets kicked out. Is Rory the princess everyone thought she was?  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
ONE YEAR LATER  
  
"Jess, stop!" Yelled a wasted Liz as her drunk son pointed a gun at her 'boyfriend for the night'.  
  
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" His speach was slurred. He kept the gun pointed at the large man. "DON'T TOUCH HER!!!" He yelled. "I'm sick of this, Liz! You always have a new guy! You don't even care that I hate every single guy you bring home!"  
  
"He's not a bad man, Jess!" She tried to reason with him. As Liz was talking to her son, the man tried to sneak up and grab the gun from Jess. The man tackled him to the ground, struggling to take the gun away from the drunken kid.  
  
"GET AWAY FROM ME, JIMMY!!!" Liz looked at her son, shocked.  
  
"Jimmy isn't here. This is Steven." She stated calmly, stumbling back. Jess kept hallucinating that his mother's boyfriend was Jimmy, mainly because he was drunk.  
  
Steven took the gun and hit Jess with the butt of it, knocking him out. Jess stopped struggling and his head hit the floor. Liz came over and felt his forehead-it was burning up. She had her boyfriend take Jess to his room and laid him on the bed.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
He woke up, his head aching. He sat up and touched his forehead, feeling caked blood around a gash that he didn't remember being there earlier. He felt dizzy and laid back down. His eyes closed tightly and fell back on his bed, remembering.  
  
One day, about three years ago, he had come home to an empty house as usual. There was one message on the answering machine. It was a rare occasion that it was ever for him, but he decided to listen to it anyway. He pushed the 'play' button. There was a long pause before her heard a female mumble, "nevermind." And hung up the phone.  
  
He often wondered who it had been, but he hadn't thought about it too much until just then. In some hopes, it would have been the girl he had been in love with ten years ago....but not likely.  
  
He had always thought she could save him and bring him back to the life that he used to know...but he figured he would never see her again anyway.  
  
LATER THAT NIGHT  
  
"Jess, I don't have time for you, ok!" Liz said, wearing a robe. He had obviously interrupted something. A man came out of her room, wearing only pants. "Ever since you were little, I've tried to deal with you-"  
  
"Deal with me!? What did I ever do to you!?"  
  
"You embarrassed me, Jess. It's as simple as that. When you were little, people used to ask me if you were retarded and other parents would never invite us to those school parties because you were so...weird and dorky." He looked away, fighting tears that were on the verge of making themselves known. "Get out of here." His head snapped up.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You heard me. You're old enough to take care of yourself, and I don't want you around anymore." It was so sudden that he couldn't even comprehend what she had said. "Get out." She stated again, taking the man's hand and leading him back to her bedroom.  
  
Jess couldn't believe this. His own mother thought he was an embarrassment...maybe he was.  
  
He went to his room, packed one duffle bag, threw it over his shoulder and left. He didn't bother to say goodbye. Not like she wanted him to.  
  
He walked outside, it was raining, so he put his hood up that was on his sweatshirt. It didn't help much. He reached the bus station, completely soaked. Where would he go? He wasn't eighteen yet so he would HAVE to have a guardian. *Maybe I could go....no I can't. Well...*  
  
STARS HOLLOW  
  
Rory woke up and rolled off her bed, hitting her head on the nightstand next to her. "OW!" She yelped. She laid on the floor for a moment, remembering the night before. Ah, yes. The party. The first time in her life she had gotten drunk and her good friend, Paris, had taken her home where she had to sneak into her own house.  
  
She didn't know why she had felt the need to drink an excessive amount of alcohol, but she had done so none the less.  
  
She started changing into her Chilton High School uniform and getting ready for the day. It had been weird that there had been a party on a Thursday night...*why did I go?* she thought. She couldn't even remember. Her head was still killing her, so she thought about not putting up her hair today, but then realized how incredibly dirty it was...there was no time to take a shower.  
  
She stood in front of the mirror and noticed a small cut on her forehead. *must've been from earlier.* She pulled her hair back, her headache increasing painfully. "RORRRRYYY!!!!" Came the extremely loud voice of her mother. She couldn't let her mother know what had happened the night before. Nope. It wasn't gonna happen...it couldn't. No one could know...  
  
"Comming mom!" She stepped out of her room. Lorelai gasped.  
  
"Rory! What happened to your head!!??!"  
  
"Oh, I fell and hit it on my nightstand this morning. I wasn't really paying attention."  
  
"Oh...oh! How was the par-tay last night! I didn't even hear you come in!!!" Rory spaced for a moment and stared at the wall.  
  
~FLASHBACK~  
  
"Hi, what's your name?" Asked a brown-headed boy comming up to her.  
  
"Rory Gilmore." She replied completely drunk, her words slurred.  
  
"I'm Marco Thomas." His speach was just as slurred as hers. "You uhh..wanna go upstairs for a little bit?" She smirked at him and took his hand. He led her up the stairs into a room, passing several 'serious' couples on the way.  
  
After he had unbuttoned half of the buttons on her shirt, Paris practically broke down the door. "GET OFF OF HER, FREAK!" She yelled pulling Marco off of Rory.  
  
"What's wrong with you!!!" Yelled Rory, not caring that her shirt was half- way unbuttoned. "I'm just having a little fun here!"  
  
"Common, I'm taking you home." She started to pull on Rory's wrist but then turned around. "Button your shirt. Common, pip pip." Rory sighed and buttoned her shirt. "Let's go." Paris grabbed her wrist and led her to the car. She shoved her in and got into the driver side. She looked at Rory who was pouting and staring out the window. "You're not so innocent anymore are you?" Rory gave her a sideways glance and muttered:  
  
"I'm still innocent, no thanks to you."  
  
"No, Rory Gilmore, you're aren't as innocent as you used to be. I really think you would have regretted this night if I hadn't stopped you. Marco is a perverted freak who follows girls around and stuff like that...ya know he's stalker-like, a creep." Rory looked down, her head starting to feel fuzzy.  
  
"Paris....stop the car." She pulled over and Rory got out and immediately vomited. When she was finally finished and pretty sure she wasn't going to have to stop again, she got back into the car and they drove the rest of the way back to Stars Hollow.  
  
~END OF FLASHBACK~  
  
"Rory?" Her mother snapped her out of her flashback.  
  
"Oh, sorry. Yeah, it was...fun. Paris drove me home."  
  
"What happened to Dean?" She asked, panic in her voice. Rory looked down, just then remembering Dean.  
  
"Oh....uhh he had to leave early." The truth was, was that he had left because they had gotten into a fight.....oh yeah, that's why she went. Dean had told her that they needed to go have some fun for a change instead of just sitting around and talking about books, which she actually liked doing. They had gotten into a fight about something....she couldn't remember now, but it had been so awful that he just left her there in Hartford.  
  
"That was very nice of Paris to bring you all the way home, considering she lived in Hartford and that's where the party was right?"  
  
"Yeah. She was being very nice last night. It was weird. Oh well, Luke's?" She asked, trying to change the subject.  
  
"You know it!"  
  
LUKE'S  
  
Lorelai and Rory sat at the counter drinking their coffee when he came in. He walked up to the cash register. "I'll have a coffee and some fries." He looked over at Rory and quickly looked away, obviously still angry from the night before.  
  
"Hey, Dean!" Lorelai called. *no, mom! Note to self- kill mom later!* Rory thought. He nodded, got his order and walked out, not saying one thing to Rory. She wished for the life of her that she could remember what their fight had been about. "Uhh ok. What's up with your boyfriend?"  
  
"Yeah I noticed he seemed a little quieter than usual." Luke chimed in as he walked up to the two girls.  
  
"I dunno...bad day maybe?"  
  
"Rory...tell us the truth. What happened last night." Lorelai demanded. Rory hesitated before answering.  
  
"I uhh...well, I...we had a fight." Luke stirred uncomfortably. Rory was going to start crying and he wouldn't know what to do. *If her eyes looked shiny, I'm outta here* he thought.  
  
"What about sweetie?" Lorelai asked. Rory didn't answer, she just sat there looking into her cup of goodness. "Rory, what about?" She urged.  
  
"I DON'T KNOW, OK!" She got up and ran out the door. Her outburst caused everyone to look up, including the black-headed boy sitting in a chair not too far away, having heard the whole conversation.  
  
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A/N: YAY! Another chapter! Sorry it took so long! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!! Anyways! I hope you guys liked this chapter. I'm kind of unsure about this chapter since I made Rory be all "bad-girl"-ish for once in her life, but I don't like the fact that she's always so perfect and everything! But this was probably a one time thing. I'm not sure yet...anyways- PLEASE REVIEW!!! Tell me if I did a horrible job! 


	5. Jess

Disclaimer: I own nuthin  
  
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"So are you gonna go after her?" Luke asked Lorelai who was staring out the window after her distressed daughter.  
  
"I think right now would be the best time to leave her alone." The black- headed boy in the corner got up quickly and left, following the girl who had stormed out so suddenly. He walked around, remembering the last time he saw her. She was at the bridge...so that's where he would look first. There she was, just like he had hoped. The boards creeked under his feet causing her to look up abruptly. She wiped her tears away quickly, seeing that she didn't know the person. She always thought it was ridiculous to cry in front of a perfect stranger.  
  
"Can I sit?" He asked, his voice deep and raspy. She looked up seeing this person a little closer. She almost forgot why she had been crying. Her stomach did a flop and she nodded in order to answer his question. He sat about a foot away from her. She suddenly remembered her problems and sniffled causing the boy to look at her.  
  
"I'm Rory." She sniffed again, holding out her hand to shake his. He stared at it. Yup, he was right...it was Rory. Rory Gilmore. The girl who haunted his dreams and thoughts and who hung on to him in the back of his head for these ten years.  
  
"Huh." He looked down into the water before pulling out a book from his back pocket. She slowly brought her hand down and took this time to take in more of his features, seeing as how he was reading and not paying attention...at least that's what she thought. He was very aware of her staring.  
  
She noticed his high cheek bones, his tanned skin, his messy yet beautiful black hair. Something about it made her want to run her fingers through it. His arms were muscular, practically busting out of the sleeves, which probably meant the rest of his body was muscluar too. She blushed at the thought. Wait, she couldn't be thinking all of this, first of all she didn't even know him, and second of all, she had a boyfriend. Who wasn't really acting like a boyfriend, but was still one none the less. "What?" He finally asked, getting annoyed with her constant staring. It was then, she noticed his dark, dark brown eyes. They were so dark, like you could just fall right into them and drown.  
  
"Uhh nothing....sorry. I was just wondering what you're name was." She asked casually.  
  
"Oh, if that's all." He went back to reading. She sighed, annoyed. So he wasn't going to answer. *I need to go home. I'm so tired and I don't feel like going to school today.* It was then, she noticed the cut on his head, it was actually a pretty deep gash.  
  
"So did you move here or are you just visiting?" She asked him, noticing the duffle bag sitting next to him.  
  
"I'm not sure yet." He replied, honestly.  
  
"Ok. Well I gotta go. So I MIGHT see you around." She waved and walked away.  
  
He knew he had to talk to Luke sooner or later. *Well, here goes nuthin.* he thought to himself as he walked towards Luke's. He opened the door, happy to see that there were only three people in the diner. The bell above the door sounded about ten times louder and everything seemed to go into slow motion. He saw Luke behind the counter. He walked up and sat on one of the stools. "What can I get you?" Luke asked without turning around.  
  
"My Uncle, if you don't mind. His name's Luke, wears a flannel shirt all the time, wears a backwards baseball cap, in fact I think he even owns this very diner." He replied sarcastically. Luke whipped around and stared at this boy.  
  
"No way. Jess? Is that really you?" His appearance had completely changed. He didn't even recognize him  
  
"The one and only." Luke didn't really know what to say, so he just stood there, like an idiot. A couple of people walked into the diner and sat down.  
  
"Well..um...why don't you go upstairs and let me take care of these people and I'll be up in a second. Is that ok?" Jess nodded, throwing his duffle bag over his shoulder and heading upstairs.  
  
UPSTAIRS  
  
Jess was so incredibly nervous for some reason and knew he needed a cigarette. He dug around in his pockets and finally found the package. He lit up and took a drag, smoke filling the small apartment. Luke finally came through the door. "So, Jess-" He stopped, seeing the cigarette in his nephew's mouth. He shifted nervously. "How long have you been smoking?" He asked nonchalantly.  
  
"Since I started." Jess replied. Luke tried to hide his disappointment and nodded his head. Jess opened the window and threw his cigarette down to the street.  
  
"You don't...stutter anymore."  
  
"Got it fixed."  
  
"How do you just get things like that fixed?" Luke asked in disbelief.  
  
"Well you don't see me stuttering anymore, do you?" Yeah, he had a point. There was a silence.  
  
"And your glasses?"  
  
"Got contacts."  
  
"I figured....either that or laser surgery." Jess smirked. *laser surgery? Do I honestly look like the type of guy to have laser surgery?* he thought. "Ok, Jess, I have to ask. What are you doing here?" Luke all of a sudden blurted out. Jess hesitated.  
  
"Can...umm...I have a place to crash for a little while?"  
  
"Oh...umm what does your mom think about this?" Jess laughed out loud for the first time in a couple months. Luke noticed the hint of bitterness that echoed around his nephew.  
  
"She couldn't care less." He chuckled again, but more sadly this time, but trying to hide his hurt. If Luke didn't know him, he probably would have pulled it off....but Luke DID know him. Maybe not as well as he used to, but he did know him and his tendencies.  
  
"Oh..umm..." Luke took a big breath. "Sure, you can stay. But uhh...how long are you thinkin?" Jess looked down.  
  
"I..I don't know." He replied, looking out the window. He notice all of the people. They all looked like they were out of a fairy tale. His eyes scanned the streets....a familiar car stood outside.  
  
"Jess, I don't know what's goin on here. But I have this strange feeling you're not telling me something." Luke eyed his nephew who was still looking out the window nervously, for some reason. "Jess?"  
  
"Oh, yeah. Um...if it's a problem, I'll just go find a place for tonight and then tomorrow, I'll...go find a friend or something to live with." He replied uncomfortably looking out the window. The semi-familiar car stood outside in front of Luke's. It looked like Tommy's car. *No, no. It can't be. He's still in jail, he's still in jail.* he kept repeating over and over to himself. He watched the car closely as the person stepped out. He held his breath......it was a some lady. Not Tommy. He heaved a sigh of relief.  
  
"It's no problem, I just think there's something you're not telling me." Jess' personality kicked back in. Whenever he would get scared or nervous, he would become quiet and solemn, but once his fear subsided, his sarcastic and witty remarks would come back.  
  
"What do you want me to say? I'm gay?" Luke's eyes grew wide. "I'm kidding, Luke....I'm as straight as a pencil." Jess chuckled.  
  
"All right, Jess. You can stay. But I want to know what's going on....EVENTUALLY. Not now, but sometime, in the NEAR future." Jess nodded.  
  
"Gotcha Uncle Luke."  
  
"It's Luke."  
  
"Ok Uncle Luke." Luke glared at his nephew and headed downstairs. Jess dumped his stuff on the floor, looking for his book. He wandered outside, looking for a place to read, in peace. He slowly walked over to the bridge that he had been at earlier....there was several memories there. One in particular stuck out in his mind.....the kiss he'd given to a beautiful girl. That girl. Rory Gilmore. She probably didn't even remember, she probably thought it was gross for him to kiss her, considering she was the popular girl and everything. But if he only knew how wrong he was.  
  
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A/N: I don't know if this chapter is any good. Let me know! REVIEW!!! 


	6. You? Get Drunk? HAHAHA

Disclaimer: I own nuthin much to my disapointment.  
  
Summary: Rory finds out who Jess is.  
  
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"I hate her!" Rory yelled, slamming the diner door and plopping down on a stool next to her mother.  
  
"Me too!" Lorelai agreed.  
  
"You don't even know who I'm talking about." Rory scoffed.  
  
"Um, I'm guessing Maggie Perkins again?" She replied, all knowing. Rory and Maggie had been going at it since they were little. "What'd she do this time?"  
  
"She's Maggie!" Rory yelled, taking a bite of her mother's burger. "She can't stay out of my business! She heard that Dean and I had a fight and now she's throwing herself at him. Like just a little bit ago I saw her all up in his face almost kissing him! UGH! I hate her!!"  
  
"UH! ME TOO!!" Lorelai yelled in disgust. "She's always been a jerk and she's always had her ways of finding out dirt on you, ya know. You should have expected it." Rory nodded.  
  
"Sure..." She mumbled. Just then someone came stumbling down the stairs. Rory practically choked when she saw who it was. It was the guy she had seen at the bridge the other day! And what caught her so completely off guard was that he came from Luke's Apartment.  
  
"Great, Jess, your here. Can you go get that table for me?" Luke asked, seeing his nephew come down the stairs. Rory started choking on her coffee. *JESS!!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!* Lorelai started patting her on the back.  
  
"Mom...he's....what? Luke!!"  
  
"Yeah? Need more coffee?" Luke asked.  
  
"NO!" She leaned in and motioned for him to do the same and whispered. "Is that Jess? Your nephew Jess?"  
  
"Yep!" Lorelai answered for him. Rory looked at her mother in complete shock.  
  
"You knew about this and didn't tell me!?!"  
  
"Yeah, well, I figured you'd see him in the diner this morning...." She pauses as she sees the angry look on her daughter's face. "I'm sorry. I should have told you...I just kind of forgot about the whole....ya know." She said, referring to the kiss causing Rory to go completely red in the face. Jess came over to the three, one with a smile on her face, one with a horrified look on her face and then Luke had a very confused look on his face. Rory, her face getting even more red, took off for the bridge.  
  
BRIDGE  
  
"Sorry..." She turned her head slightly towards the person who spoke. He sat down next to her, dangling his feet over the water. "I should have told you who I was, shouldn't I?" She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. She was going to say something harsh to him, but didn't really feel the need to and besides she had already dealt with Maggie and Dean today which always made her emotionally tired. She sighed and answered calmly.  
  
"Yeah, that would have been nice." He nodded his head and stared out into the water almost laughing at his own reflection. He was so serious and he was trying so hard to get her not to be mad at him anymore that he looked ridiculous. He hadn't talked to her but once since he'd been back and he was already getting some weird feeling in his stomach. It was the same feeling he had experienced back ten years ago.  
  
"You look good." He replied still staring out into space. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye just in time to see her cheeks go a slight bit red. He chuckled to himself, realizing that she must be innocent.....if one simple comment could make her blush, she would have to be...  
  
"Thanks....you look...." He awaited the worse. "Different....I mean like a good kind of different." She smiled at him, the sweetest smile. He had almost forgotten that smile. She had faded so far into the back of his head that he had ceased to remember. His heart lifted for a moment before nestling itself back into it's rightful place, deep in the pit of his stomach.  
  
In all honesty, she thought he looked incredibly good. Better than good. He was a freaking god! But of course she couldn't tell him that. "I wanted to tell you I'm sorry...for leaving..."  
  
"That was ten years ago, Jess. I think I can forgive you." He smirked. "What happened to your head?" She asked, pointing to the gash on his forehead.  
  
"I got drunk and my mom's boyfriend had to knock me out. And of all the ways to accomplish that, he chose one of the worst." She stared at him for a moment and then started laughing. "What?" He asked, slightly annoyed.  
  
"You? Get drunk? Do you seriously think that I'm going to believe that?" She asked, still laughing. She obviously didn't know the "new him". *God help her when she does* Jess thought.  
  
"Nevermind. I gotta go. It was nice seein you, Rory." He stood up as did she.  
  
"Yeah, same here. How long you here for?" She asked.  
  
"I don't know....a little while I guess."  
  
"Ok, maybe we could do something? I mean, I want to catch up with you. I haven't seen or heard from you in ten years."  
  
"Yeah, uhh sure. If that's what you want." She nodded.  
  
"Yeah ok, so I'll come to the diner tomorrow and we'll talk more about it." She smiled and watched him walk off. She almost collapsed onto the bridge when he was completely out of sight. What had happened to him? He had been this huge dork and then all of a sudden she would PAY to sit and just stare at him! What's goin on here?  
  
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A/N: Sorry it's so short but I got a paper due tomorrow!! I hope you liked it! I'll try and get the next chapter up sooner!! PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! 


	7. I hate myself

Disclaimer: I own nuthin except for a new character that I'm adding (wink wink)  
  
Summary: Rory and Dean break-up, Rory remembers what happened at the party, and someone comes to visit Jess.  
  
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"Hey, Luke, where's Jess? I was suppose to uhh..talk to him today." Luke nodded and stuck his head through the curtains.  
  
"JESSS!!!!!!!" He yelled. "He'll be down in a few minutes." Five minutes later, he came stumbling down the stairs.  
  
"Hey, Jess, over here!" Rory called to him. He came over to where she was sitting at the counter.  
  
"Hey, couldn't wait to see me, huh?" She blushed.  
  
"Well I-"  
  
"Rory!" She turned around and there stood Dean Forrester with the nastiest look on his face. "What are you doing!" He grabbed her arm and turned her around.  
  
"Dean...." Jess' ears perked up...*Dean..Dean...I've heard that name before....*  
  
"No, Rory. First you, get into this fight with me, then you get drun-" *drunk? DRUNK!* Jess pretended he didn't hear anything...*but, Rory? Drunk? This is crazy! Maybe she's not so innocent...ah, stop it, Mariano. Don't assume...maybe ask her later.*  
  
"DEAN! STOP!" Rory yelled before he could finish his sentence. "What's really wrong here?"  
  
"You...you...haven't talk to me and now your talking to some random guy and....I dunno. Just forget it!" He yelled storming out of the diner. Rory shrugged and went back to Jess.  
  
"Boyfriend?" He asked, still watching the boy, Dean, walking down the street.  
  
"Yeah...he's kind of possessive. Anyways, you wanna hang out later?" He was kind of surprised at this considering she had just had a fight with her boyfriend....most girls would go home and cry until the guy came over and apologized or they worked things out. She acted like this happened all the time...maybe it did.  
  
"Uh..I guess."  
  
"JESS! Table! OVER THERE!! Get it for me!" Yelled Luke as he walked by.  
  
"Nope-can't you see I'm a little busy?" He asked sarcastically.  
  
"Jess get your butt over there now! I don't have time for your sarcastic remarks!!" Jess smiled as he turned to look at Rory again, but his smile quickly faded.  
  
"Umm..don't look now, but it kinda looks like that boyfriend of yours is headed this way." Rory turned around just as Dean walked through the door.  
  
"RORY!"  
  
"I'll just go get that table now." He leaned in and whispered. "Good luck." She was surprised by his small gesture that made her feel so safe and secure.  
  
"What now, Dean?" She asked, completely annoyed.  
  
"You didn't come after me!"  
  
"Excuse me!?!" All right, now she was pissed.  
  
"I always come after you when you're upset and not once do you ever come after me!!!!"  
  
"Dean, stop!!"  
  
"No, you stop! Ever since that stupid party we haven't talked and I just...want things the way they were." He looked down sadly, finally calming down.  
  
"They can't....I really liked you Dean...but I can't....I don't..." She put her hands on her head finally remembering the night of the party.  
  
~FLASHBACK~  
  
The music was blaring and couples were dancing. Rory had taken a shot of something...she didn't even know what it was. She was getting more and more drunk as the night went on. She started dancing with other guys. Dean came over and tried to pull her away. "Come on, Ror." She pulled away and continued dancing. "Rory..." His voice became warning as he pulled her out to the car.  
  
"What are you doing!" Her speach was slurred.  
  
"Taking you home." He put her in the car and she immediately got out. There was a guy walking by and she took his arm and began walking away with him. "RORY!!" She heard him yell, but she continued walking. Dean sighed and left. She could find her own way home, she didn't need him.  
  
~END FLASHBACK~  
  
"You wouldn't let me have fun!" She yelled, not even believing that had just come out of her mouth.  
  
"WHAT! Oh my gosh, Rory, you were hanging all over those guys that night and I let you, but I got fed up with it." She was speechless..she had nothing to say to this. "Nothing to say, huh?" She hung her head. "Goodbye, Rory. Have a nice life." She walked back over and sat at the counter, with her head hung low. She always thought she would be the one to break up with him.  
  
"Someone looks gloomy." Jess said as he came over and poured her some more coffee.  
  
"How did you know I liked coffee?" She asked surprised, perking up a little.  
  
"I have a good memory." She smiled and nodded as she drank her coffee. She started looking sad again and Jess came over after yelling at Kirk to go screw his grandmother. "Why so sad?" He asked, actually concerned for her.  
  
"I just...we broke up...in front of the whole town." She started shaking uncontrollably.  
  
"Rory..."  
  
"What's everyone going to think?!?" Jess came around the counter and put his arm around her shoulders and led her up the stairs.  
  
APARTMENT  
  
He brought her in and sat her on the couch. "First off, you need to calm down. Because you're really freakin me out. It's just a break-up. No biggie, right?"  
  
"Ok, you apparently don't have that great of a memory. This is Stars Hollow!!! I'm..I'm known as...as..." She couldn't even say it.  
  
"The princess?" He finished for her.  
  
"Yeah...they can't know....oh my gosh, everyone will hate me!"  
  
"No, everyone will hate him. He's the guy, it's just kind of how this kind of thing works. There's a break-up and no matter what, it's always the guy's fault. Trust me." She started crying.  
  
"It was MY fault though!!" He sat down next to her and held her. He hadn't done this in a long time.  
  
"Don't beat yourself up about it."  
  
"NO!" She put her hands on his chest and pushed him away. "You don't know what I did!!" She yelled as she stood up and began pacing around the apartment. "I was so horrible! I was a horrible girlfriend! I can't believe he stayed with me for as long as he did. I cheated on him! I was mean to him!"  
  
"Whoa! Back up! You cheated on him?" She stopped pacing for a moment and looked at him.  
  
"Ummm...no...yes...I DUNNO!!!!" He stood up and put his hands on her shoulders.  
  
"Calm down. Come on, let's go to bookstore or somethin." She looked at him and nodded.  
  
"Ok."  
  
THE NEXT DAY  
  
"How was school?" Lorelai asked as they headed over to Luke's.  
  
"I swear people were staring at me..."  
  
"Umm...ok. So other than the fact that everyone at Stars Hollow High have stalker tendencies, how was the rest of your day?" She asked as they entered the diner.  
  
"It could have been better." They sat down at the counter as Jess came up to them.  
  
"Hey, what's up Jess?" Lorelai greeted.  
  
"The sky." He replied sarcastically.  
  
"Ok...umm can I have some coffee?"  
  
"Same for me!" Rory chimed in. He mumbled a 'yeah sure' and walked away. A girl came bounding in the door, obviously drunk. She had a bag slung over her shoulder. Her make-up was heavy and what stood out the most was her eyes. They were bright green with green eyeshadow. Rory had never seen anyone with eyes like that.  
  
She looked fifteen or sixteen and had blackish hair and about five earings on each ear. She wore a shirt that came up past her navel which revealed a belly button ring and the shirt had a neckline that showed a large proportion of her boobs, that were rather large, making most of the customers uncomfortable around her. She wore boots with extremely tall heels and they came up to her knees. Her skirt however was above mid-thigh showing a good amount of leg, even though some was covered by her boots. Rory gave her mom a look of disgust and Lorelai returned it.  
  
"JESSSSSS!!!" Her speech was slurred, definitely drunk. Jess' head popped out of the back and came out as the girl sat down at the counter next to Rory and Lorelai.  
  
"What are you doing here?" He demanded. He didn't look all that happy to see her...but yet he didn't look angry. Who was she?  
  
"Aren't you gonna tell your little sister hello!?!" She yelled as she threw her arms around his neck.  
  
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A/N: Sister? SISTER!!! HA! I didn't mention a sister earlier, now did I!?! Hehehe! Review and tell me whatcha think! 


	8. Oh, Those Golden Olden Days

Disclaimer: I don't own anything  
  
Summary: We get to know Tara a little more and find out a little more about Jess' past. Sort of a filler chapter, but please read anyway!  
  
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He pushed her away and grabbed her arms, sitting her back down on the stool. "You're drunk." She smiled sheepishly. "Stay here." He went in the back. She pulled out a cigarette and lit up. She took a couple of drags and sighed, she didn't know why she smoked...it had always been a big puzzle to her. Maybe it was because Jess did...or because...well she didn't know.  
  
Jess finally came back out with a glass full of something disgusting looking. "Here. Drink up." He said as he shoved the glass in front of her and took the cigarette away from her and threw it out a window. *Luckily there aren't many people left in the diner to witness her insane craziness and drinking habits....and mine.* Jess thought.  
  
"Hey! That's mine!" She yelled.  
  
"No smoking in the diner or Luke will have your right thumb. Trust me." He held up his right hand and hid his thumb to prove his point.  
  
"Ha-ha you're just so funny."  
  
"And serious." He pointed to the glass sternly. She almost picked up the glass but decided to make a bargain with him.  
  
"I'll drink this, if you drink a shot of this." She pulled out a bottle of tequila and a small shot glass.  
  
"Nope." He pushed it away.  
  
"Ok, then I won't drink this." She pointed to the juice in front of her.  
  
"But you NEED to drink that."  
  
"Well, you NEED to drink this!" She pushed the bottle in front of him. "Common. Where's my big brother gone to? He's in there somewhere ain't he?" She started poking him to "try and find the real him" until he finally gave in.  
  
"Stop it." He heaved and poured himself a shot and drank it. Lorelai and Rory watched in shock.  
  
"YAY!" The girl squealed. "There he is!" She pointed at him and he slapped her hand down.  
  
"Now, you drink that." He pointed to her glass.  
  
"All right all right." She took a swig and puked it out all over Jess. "EW! This is sickkk.!!" Jess seemed unfazed by this whole thing. He took a close pin and put it on her nose and tipped her head back, pouring in the thick disgusting liquid. The girl started choking and gagging but he continued pouring it down her throat. He seemed so concentrated and concerned and careful. He was finally done. "That was disgusting!" She yelled. "What's the point of that crap again? I forgot."  
  
"It's to clean your system completely of the alcohol." He replied, taking the glass and putting it in the sink.  
  
"How's it gonna do that?" She asked obviously having forgotten.  
  
"You'll see in about...." He looked at his watch. "One minute." He smirked. A minute later she started gagging.  
  
"Jess..." She whimpered. "Where's..."  
  
"Upstairs." He winked at her and watched her run upstairs yelling.  
  
"I hate you!" He laughed, remembering the good times when that used to happen about everynight...except they BOTH would be hovered over the toilet. Rory motioned for Jess to come over. He was still chuckling.  
  
"Who's that?" The two girls asked at the same time.  
  
"That would be my little sister, Tara." He replied.  
  
"I didn't know you had a sister..." Rory was shocked he had never told her....  
  
"Yeah. I know. She's two years younger than me....in case you were wondering." The two girls looked at each other.  
  
"Ok."  
  
"I gotta go change." He pointed to his shirt that had a good amount of puke down the front and headed upstairs. A few minutes later, he came back clad in a brown collared shirt with a blue shirt on underneath it.  
  
20 MINUTES LATER  
  
Lorelai and Rory were talking to Luke and Jess was wiping down one of the counters when Tara finally came back down, her face completely pale. She was holding her head and trying to fix her hair that had fallen down. She sat back down at the stool she had been in before and put her head down. "Did I mention that I hate you?" She asked. He slipped her two pills and a glass of water and she sat up and looked at them.  
  
"They're for that massive hang over you're going to have in about ten minutes." She nodded, knowingly. He actually missed this. Taking care of his little sister when she got drunk. He remembered the first time she had done it. He had actually told her not to but it's not like she was going to listen to him. It was back when she was fourteen and he had been doing things like drugs and going to parties, always getting in trouble. She asked him if she could come with them one night and he had said no, but she kept begging and begging until he finally gave in.  
  
~FLASHBACK~  
  
"All right, jeez. Common." She squealed in delight and threw her arms around her brother's neck. He peeled her off of him and the group went to the party.  
  
"This is great!" She yelled over the loud music.  
  
"Yeah, spectacular." He replied sarcastically. He was actually getting kind of bored with these parties. They were all the same. You get drunk, then you get laid-it was as simple as that. He used to think it was great, but now he wasn't so sure he liked it anymore.  
  
"I'm goin to the bar." She stated as she went and sat on one of the stools. Jess sighed and came over to her.  
  
"What do you think you're doin? You're fourteen, you can't just-"  
  
"Yes, I can! They don't check ID's here, that's why we come here, remember? I mean, you're sixteen and you still drink, right?"  
  
"Yeah, but-" she drank the shot that was placed before her. She made a disgusted face but asked for another anyway and then she asked for another and then another. "Tara cut it out!" He took the last one from her and held it away. "No more!" He yelled sternly.  
  
"Just let me have a little fun, Jessy!" He hated it when she called him that.  
  
"I already did. Besides you'll throw up your insides if you drink any more of that stuff." He sighed. "Let's go." He pulled at her arm but she jerked away.  
  
"I'm fourteen, Jess. I can do what I want."  
  
"Oh, please, Tara! You're FOURTEEN! You can't do stuff like this!" He yelled, not believing his sister was going to turn out like him.  
  
"Whatever. Do me a favor and don't talk to me for the rest of the night." She walked away. He looked down at the glass he was holding. He looked up and then back down and drank it. Just then, Tara came back, seeing the sad look on her big brother's face. "Jessy...just trust me, ok? I won't get into any trouble. I just want to have a little bit of fun." He nodded and watched her go. She began dancing with some guy that was obviously looking for a one night stand. This was almost too much for Jess-watching his little sister dance seductively with a guy like that....it made him sick to his stomach.  
  
~**~  
  
When they finally got home that night, Jess and Tara were both completely wasted. Jess had finally just given up and drank a couple rounds with his buddies....well maybe a little more than a COUPLE. "Jess, do you know how to make one of those...drinks...ya know...?" She slurred and he thought about it for a minute and nodded.  
  
"Yep." He stumbled into the kitchen and fixed two drinks for each of them. A drink that would clean their systems and he put a little something extra in to help them sleep. "Here we go. Made it special myself." He handed her one glass and they held the glasses high in the air. "To...not being wasted tomorrow!" They clanged their glasses together and fell asleep on the couch not too long after.  
  
~END FLASHBACK~  
  
"Ok-I'm feelin the hang over now." Her voice broke his thoughts. "Ow...ow ow ow." She held her head and he just smiled at her. "Don't look at me like that."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Like 'ha-ha you got a hang over and I don't.'" He smiled at her again.  
  
"Come on." He led her upstairs and then came back down to three people staring intently at him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Who is that?" Luke asked, annoyed that some girl was up in his apartment without his permission.  
  
"Luke, you don't even know you're own niece?" Jess asked astonished.  
  
"That's Tara? Please tell me you're kidding." He begged.  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Great. Another delinquent in my house, this is just GREAT!"  
  
"Luke, calm down. I don't even know how long she's stayin. I think she's just chillin out here for awhile." Luke nodded and thought for a moment.  
  
"Ok, but if she starts actin like you-one of you is leavin. Got it, dear nephew of mine?" Jess nodded and went back to wiping down tables. Rory waved to Jess as she and Lorelai left.  
  
"Bye, Jess!" He looked up and waved quickly before going back to work.  
  
THAT NIGHT  
  
"So, is uncle Luke gonna let me stay?" Jess jumped and almost fell off of his bed at the sound of her voice. He quickly gathered himself and answered.  
  
"Um, yeah. For a little while....." He looked up from his book. "what are you doin here, Tara...in Stars Hollow. I mean, seriously. It's not that I'm not happy to see you or anything, but I would kind of like to know if there's some ulterior motive for this little visit of yours." She plopped down on his bed.  
  
"Well, I came here because I missed you...and other reasons are my own."  
  
"Tara, we used to tell each other everything. Come on, you can tell me." She crawled up towards him and placed her head on his chest and he put his arm around her.  
  
"Let's just....sit here for a little while, ok?" He sighed, realizing he wasn't going to get an answer out of her. Once she made up her mind about something, she was stubborn and kept to it.  
  
"Ok." He gave in.  
  
"Read to me?" He smiled down at her.  
  
"Yeah." He opened The Great Gatsby and began reading. He knew it was one of her favorite books. "'Tom was evidently perturbed at Daisy's running around alone, for on the following Saturday night he came with her to Gatsby's party. Perhaps his presence gave the evening its peculiar quality of oppressiveness-it stands out in my memory of Gatsby's other parties that summer.' "  
  
~**~**~  
  
Luke walked in and found Jess and Tara asleep with a book laying on Jess' chest. He smiled at the two, who obviously had a connection of some kind. They understood each other. Someone that understood Jess? Go figure....he didn't know Tara that well, but by the looks of her clothes....maybe he didn't want to get to know her. *stop judging! She's your niece! She could be nice!* Luke yelled at himself.  
  
GILMORE'S  
  
"Hey, Ror. What'd you think of Jess' little sis? Slutty, huh?" Rory laughed a little but stopped short.  
  
"Mom...I don't think we should judge her quite yet."  
  
"But sweetie, we saw how she dressed and she was drunk when she came to STARS HOLLOW!"  
  
"That doesn't mean she's a slut. Let's just give her a chance." Lorelai nodded approvingly and they went back to watching T.V.  
  
"So...I saw you and Jess talkin today." Lorelai turned and watched her daughter blush slightly before smiling and looking down.  
  
"Yeah...we did. He's really not that bad, ya know? He helped me a lot when Dean broke up with me."  
  
"I know. You told me." Rory smiled.  
  
"Just making sure you knew." Rory mumbled. The two girls smiled at one another and went back to watching T.V. Rory's thoughts weren't on what they were watching though. They were on Jess and his little sister.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: HEY! Ok, I need more reviews, ok? It keeps me inspired and i'm not feeling all that inspired right now because of the lack of reviews! So PLEASE PLEASE review!!! 


	9. Awkward

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN A THING!....except Jonah I guess...hmm...  
  
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"Jess...."  
  
"No."  
  
"Jess.....!!!" She pleaded.  
  
"Ok, did I say 'no' or have I just been saying it over and over in my head instead of outloud, 'cause see-I get confused so easily." She smacked him playfully on the arm.  
  
"Jerk." She paused dramatically. "PLEASE!!!!!"  
  
"No, Tara, I am NOT introducing you to that guy, because a) you just got here yesterday and you can't seriously already be trying to find a boyfriend, b) I don't even know the guy myself so it would be weird for me to introduce you two, and c) you know that you would corrupt him, right? I mean look at him. He's gotta be pretty innocent."  
  
"Oh yeah? Why do you think that? He doesn't have to be innocent!"  
  
"But look at him! And besides the fact that he's from Stars Hollow!" She sighed, defeated.  
  
"But...what if I want to change? Huh? What if I want to see different types of guys?" He thought for a moment and looked for the sincerity in his little sister's eyes.  
  
"Then...I would have to say three little words to you."  
  
"I love you? Oh Jess-"  
  
"Load. Of. Crap."  
  
"You think I'm lying?"  
  
"It's what you're best at."  
  
"I learned if from you!" She countered, seeming pleased with her comeback.  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"Ha! I win!" She threw her hands up in the air. Her cellphone rang and she quickly answered it. "Hello? Yeah this is she." Two girls walked in and sat a stool away from Tara and Jess.  
  
"Huh, looks like we're the first one's in here....except for that guy, but we're the first customers that REALLY count! Hey, Jess? Coffee!" Lorelai called. Jess glanced at Tara who was still talking to whoever it was on her phone.  
  
"Yeah, sure." He walked over and got the coffee pot and two mugs, placing them in front of the two girls. "Is this all?" He asked.  
  
"Actually we kind of wanted to meet your sister." Rory chimed in, receiving and odd glance from her mother. Jess also gave her an odd look before looking over at his sister who had just hung up with the person she was talking to.  
  
"Tara, this is Lorelai and Rory Gilmore." Tara looked at Jess and smirked.  
  
"Hi, it's nice to meet you...finally." She muttered. Jess had obviously heard and chuckled a little. Tara stuck out her hand to the two girls, shaking each of their hands one at a time.  
  
"So what brings you here?"  
  
"To Stars Hollow, she means." Rory finished.  
  
"Jess, I guess."  
  
"HA! You rhymed!" Lorelai cheered.  
  
"I think that's worth a dime..."  
  
"What do you think about those chimes?"  
  
"Have you ever thought about being a mime?" Lorelai and Rory giggled together as Tara looked at Jess.  
  
"You two are weeeird." Jess said as he gave them some more coffee.Tara gave one last look at Jess and ran out the door which caused the two girls to stop laughing immediately.  
  
"Um...is anyone else confused?" Lorelai asked. Jess kept his gaze on his sister who was walking down the sidewalk, her arms wrapped around herself protectively and her head down. "Jess-" he was already out the door.  
  
"Lorelai! Lorelai!" The two girls turned around.  
  
"Uh...Sookie? What's wrong?" Sookie held her breath for a moment then let it back out slowly to calm her breathing.  
  
"Jonah!"  
  
"And the whale?" Lorelai asked, trying to figure out what was wrong with her friend.  
  
"No! Jonah-Jackson's step brother's third cousin is comming to visit!" Lorelai and Rory stared in confusion.  
  
"And..."  
  
"And...I've never met him before! What do I cook!?! What do I do! I've never met any of Jackson's relatives before!"  
  
"Sook, calm down. It's sort of a distant cousin right? So maybe his oppinion won't matter so much."  
  
"What are you saying? Are you saying he's going to have a bad oppinion of me? I can't believe this! My best friend!"  
  
"Umm...I mean he'll have an oppinion of you and if his relative is weird and stupid then he might have a bad opinion and therefore maybe because he so distant it won't mean as much......I didn't mean anything by it!"  
  
"Ah, I need coffee. Luke!"  
  
GAZEBO  
  
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and sauntered up the stairs, seeing his sister sitting there looking very much alone. "Need some company?" His voice made her look up slightly and then back down, shaking her head. "Common, you never denied me before..." He took his seat next to her and she scooted away from him. "What's wrong with you? We were fine just a second ago, now you hate me?" She shook her head again. "Look at me." She turned her head further away from him. "Tara Mariano, look at me right now." He feigned seriousness, but there was something in his voice that made Tara turn towards him anyway. He saw the tears in his little sister's eyes that were bound to spill over at any minute. "Hey, what's wrong?" His voice became more soothing and concerned at the look on her face. One tear fell down her cheeks and landed on her plaid skirt. Another one began to fall but she quickly wiped it away, smearing her eccesive amount of make-up in the progress. She never cried, so this was highly unusual. "Tara-"  
  
"I want that." He stopped short and looked at her with a confused look.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I want what they have."  
  
"Want what who has?"  
  
"Them...Lorelai and Rory. They have the perfect mother-daughter relationship. I WANT that, Jess." She sniffed, holding back her tears. She chuckled a little at herself. "This is so stupid. I NEVER cry and when I do, it's over the absolute stupidest things." She continued laughing, receiving a confused look from her brother. Her laughter grew louder and weirder and he wondered if she had been drinking again.  
  
"Are you drunk?" He questioned.  
  
"No." She answered quietly, suddenly stopping her insane laughter that had been over nothing.  
  
"I know you want a good relationship with Liz and Jimmy, Tara." He said aloud. "Cuz I would too." She stared at him out of the corner of her eye and then played with the fray at the hem of her skirt.  
  
~**~**~**~A FEW DAYS LATER-BRIDGE  
  
Rory walked along the bridge, not even noticing someone sitting there. She was so lost in the beauty of the day. She finally looked down. "Jess, sorry I didn't mean to-"  
  
"It's ok, you can stay." He smirked at her.  
  
"Where's your tag-a-long?" She asked, a smile tugging at her lips.  
  
"She's my sister, not my tag-a-long and she's helping Luke out at the diner today...paying her dues if you know what I mean." Rory nodded.  
  
"Jess...I know I shouldn't ask this, but...I mean, I didn't even know you had a sister, then all of a sudden, you do and I'm so confused....what happened?"  
  
"You don't want to know. It's not that interesting."  
  
"Come on. Tell me. I won't....I dunno laugh or....whatever you think I'm gonna do." He sighed, took a deep breath and began talking. Much to Rory's surprise.  
  
"When my dad left, I was about six, Tara was 4 and he took her with him. I kept in contact with her for awhile and she was always trying to be like me and stuff. She came and visited me and my mom but I never visited her. I hate my dad, always will. Anyway, when she was ten, she moved in with us because my dad would have his friends over all the time and they would always...ya know....do stuff to her...make her uncomfortable-anyway. So she moved in with me and my mom. Been there ever since....until now."  
  
"Wow, I didn't even know all of that was going on....I never knew that about your dad. I'm sorry."  
  
"Yeah, well Tara's never really been the same, that's why I'm not pushin her to go back."  
  
"I thought your mom sent her here."  
  
"Apparently not. She said she was passing through...whatever that means, she's fifteen. She can't do like a travel around wherever you want thing. I dunno."  
  
"So, why did she run off the other day?"  
  
"Oh...she was just upset about something. It's...not a big deal." He stood up. "So, how's things with Dean?" She laughed lightly as she stood up.  
  
"Oh, yes, my boyfriend, Dean."  
  
"Ex-boyfriend." He corrected.  
  
"Nope, he's my boyfriend." Jess could have sworn he heard her wrong.  
  
"Sorry, could you say that again?" She chuckled a little.  
  
"Dean and I made up, I told him I was the jerk and it was all my fault and that I would never do it again." Jess couldn't even believe his ears! This was insane! "Jess?" This was unreal. He swallowed his disappointment and smirked.  
  
"I thought you seemed eerily happy today."  
  
"Yeah, well."  
  
"I mean, God forbid you have any fun without his permission. Good thing you apologized." His comment was dripping with sarcasm, taking Rory by surprise.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Rory, you told me everything that happened. You told me how you got drunk and all that crap that you don't usually do, but may I remind you, that he's the one who took you to that party and told you to loosen up." She stared at him blankly. "Don't apologize for having fun."  
  
"Jess, I cheated on him."  
  
"I know you did."  
  
"So why are you still saying it's his fault?"  
  
"I'm not saying that part was his fault, but I guess all I'm saying is that if he had such a problem with you dancing with other guys, than maybe he shouldn't have let you get drunk, and maybe he shouldn't have let you dance with any of them in the first place." She contemplated for a moment.  
  
"Jess, I know that where you come from, cheating on your girlfriend or boyfriend is not such a big deal, but here-it is."  
  
"What do you mean where I come from?"  
  
"From New York. From things I've seen, in movies and stuff-"  
  
"Rory, Rory. That's the movies. It's different. Sure that kind of stuff happens but it's not always to that extreme."  
  
"Right. Anyways, Dean and I are back together now and we are quite happy." She gave him her most convincing smile and walked past him.  
  
"Funny." She stopped, but did not turn around. "I seem to remember you saying that you were only with him last time because he was nice...and that you didn't really like him." She whirled around.  
  
"Well, I do like him! In fact, I love him! I admit, I wasn't too fond of dating him on a regular basis in the first place, but I have grown to love him." She whirled back around and started off.  
  
"You shouldn't have to grow to love someone. It should just happen, Rory." She heard him, but still did not turn around. He sighed and walked towards the diner, even though that's where she'd gone. Rory knew that she was only with Dean because that's what her mother wanted and that's what the town expected of her.  
  
When Jess walked in, Lorelai and Rory were sitting at one of the tables, and Rory had her head down. She looked deep I thought and he hoped that maybe she was thinking about what he said. His eyes fell on Tara who was carrying a heavy box out from the storage area. He hurried over and took it from her, lifting it effortlessly. "Jeez, you make that look so easy." She said, wiping sweat off of her forehead. He gave her a strange look.  
  
"If you think that's heavy, you need to work more." He chuckled and took the pad from her pocket and the pen from behind her ear. "I'll take over from here." She grabbed both items back from him.  
  
"No, I got it." She smiled and went over to a table of jocks that never came in there. *wonder why they all of a sudden got an urge to come to Luke's Diner.* he thought sarcastically. He looked at his sister. He was used to her skimpy clothing but for some reason, it seemed even more revealing than usual...maybe it was because she was in this town, where no one would even dare dress like that. She was wearing short jean shorts, with a shirt that came up to her navel and had a neckline that was further down than most of the women's in the room. He chuckled as he watched the jocks drooling over his sister. *Poor Tara. Stupid jocks.* Tara bent over and the guys all tried to sneak a peak, but she snapped up quickly. Lorelai and Rory watched from a distance, greatly amused. Tara came back over to Jess with a gigantic grin on her face.  
  
"I love doing that!" He laughed harder and glanced at Rory who was still smiling at his sister's little show. "Hey, can you get the Gilmore's over there. I kind of got my hands full." She asked as she gestured towards the three plates of food that she was trying to balance. He fidgeted nervously.  
  
"Uh, yeah, sure." He took a notepad and pen and went over to their tables. "Hey, what can I get you?"  
  
"Cheese fries, a burger with no lettuce or tomato and coffee." He wrote it down and looked at Rory awaiting her response. "Rory...earth to Rory!" She snapped her fingers in front of her daughter's face.  
  
"What? Oh...uhh same as my mom."  
  
"Ok." He sped off, thankful that he didn't have to stand in that awkward fest any longer than he had to.  
  
"SO what was that about?" Lorelai asked her daughter who seemed to be fidgeting and she also noticed that Jess had been to.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You and Jess. I thought you guys were ya know...friends or something....and that was not a friendish sort of vibe, that was an awkward kind of vibe."  
  
"Yeah, well, we had sort of a weird conversation earlier. About me and Dean. It was weird."  
  
"What about you and Dean? Is he jealous or just being Jess? 'Cause if I remember correctly, he used to have a crush on you." Rory blushed but tried so hard not to.  
  
"Oh yeah that's it." She replied sarcastically as a cover up for her previous blush. "No, he just said.....well it's actually not important what he said because he was wrong." Lorelai sensed that Rory didn't want to talk about it so she let it slide...for now.  
  
"Oh well, as long as you know you're right. Because a Gilmore is NEVER wrong." This got a smile out of Rory. Tara brought over their food.  
  
"Here ya go." Lorelai grabbed Tara's arm as she started to leave.  
  
"So you're Jess' sister?"  
  
"Um, yeah. I really should-" she tried to leave again.  
  
"No, no! Sit! Sit!" Lorelai scooted over to make room for Tara.  
  
"Well, I guess I could stay for a minute."  
  
"Great! Now tell us something about that brother of yours!" Lorelai grinned evilly.  
  
"Umm, like what?"  
  
"Anything! Just make it juicy!"  
  
"Umm...Ya know, I can't think of any. Hey....Rory right?" Rory nodded.  
  
"You wanna come upstairs and watch some T.V. Or something?" Rory was a little surprised by the offer.  
  
"uhh...sure, is that ok mom?"  
  
"Of course! Have fun! Oh and Tara, try and come up with a good story by the end of your stay, ok?" Tara smiled and nodded and the two girls headed upstairs.  
  
APARTMENT  
  
As they entered the room, Jess was laying on his bed reading. "Jess! Hey!" She ran over and sat on the bed with him, giving him a hug. Rory stood at the doorway awkwardly. "Come on in!" Rory's eyes shifted to the ground.  
  
"Actually, I've got to go. Lane and I are suppose to hang out. I totally forgot. Sorry." She smiled and glanced at Jess. "I'll see you guys later." She left as quickly as possible to avoid any confrontation with Jess......Tara looked at her brother who shifted uncomfortably and went back to reading.  
  
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A/N: Hello! I hope you liked this chapter! I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with Tara. Should I have her leave soon or actually have her stay for awhile....i'm still debating....anyway! Please review....really! I'm serious I love it when you guys review! It makes my heart happy :) 


	10. This is Your Night

Disclaimer: All I own is Camdon Harce  
  
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"So Tara seems nice enough, don't you think?"  
  
"Yeah, she's really nice." Rory and Lorelai walked home from the diner after breakfast. "I wonder how long she's staying...it's been....two weeks...."  
  
"Yeah....well, what do you want to do today?"  
  
"Whatever you want, I'm all yours."  
  
"What about Dean?"  
  
"He's working today."  
  
*******  
  
Jess walked along the sidewalk, heading for his favorite place in Stars Hollow, when he saw her.Tara, making out with some guy against a telephone pole. He'd seen her do this before, but that was in New York....this was Stars Hollow and he had to admit, it was a pretty disgusting display. He wondered if he should go over and stop it, but then again, he saw Taylor with a horrified look on his face. Jess laughed and continued walking, but heard someone yell: "Get off him!" And turned around just in time to see a girl throw Tara off of the guy. He knew Tara could take care of herself, but that didn't stop him from running over to her. "You stay away from my boyfriend!" She yelled and stormed away dragging her boyfriend with her. The guy looked back at Tara and gave her a innocent smile.....that's when Jess recognized him.  
  
"Tara! That's the guy from the diner the other day!" He yelled.  
  
"Yep! And he's like the little prince of Stars Hollow High, can you say:score?!" Jess couldn't help but laugh, but then realized the havoc that she had caused. She started to walk off and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit up. Jess stared at the mob of people that were forming around the boy that his sister had been kissing asking him if he was all right and if she hurt him. He looked away and ran to catch up with Tara who was heading back to the diner.  
  
"Tara, you can't just do that her, ok? That guy has a girlfriend."  
  
"Right, I know! Ha! Score!" She threw her arms up in the air and waved them around and stopped when she saw Rory kissing some guy in the diner. She stared intently, not once looking away. Jess waved a hand in front of her face.  
  
"Hey, what are you looking at?" He looked in the direction she had been looking and saw Dean and Rory. His heart sank and he looked away.  
  
"I thought...they broke up."  
  
"Well you thought wrong."  
  
"But you said-"  
  
"Well, I was wrong!" He snapped. She felt sorry for him. He still liked or maybe even loved Rory whether he wanted to show it or not. When he had gotten home from Stars Hollow all those years ago, he had talked of no other person but Rory Gilmore-the girl who had won his heart and would keep it for all eternity though he tried so desperately hard to convince himself and others otherwise as time wore on.  
  
"Sorry...someone's touchy. I just didn't they would get back together."  
  
"Well, Rory's life wouldn't be perfect if they hadn't." He replied bitterly. She nodded and they walked into the diner. "I gotta start my shift."  
  
"You want me to get their table?" Tara asked.  
  
"No, I got it." He walked over and pulled out a notepad and pen. "What can I get you?" Rory stared up at him, her eyes large and wondering. She missed him. She missed him more than she had in the past ten years, maybe because now she knew him better and she wanted to continue getting to know him.  
  
"Coke, burger, and fries." Dean replied, noticing Rory's longing look at him. Jess' eyes caught Rory's and she looked away. Jess stood there waiting for her to order. "Rory, I think the guy's waiting for you." She looked up quickly.  
  
"I'll have the same." She said quickly. Jess raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Coke? You want...a coke?" Jess asked almost laughing. Making her nervous in front of her boyfriend was refreshingly entertaining.  
  
"No, I mean, I want coffee instead of coke. You should know that." He nodded and walked away.  
  
"What was that about?" Dean asked.  
  
"He's a jerk." She said almost inaudibly without looking up.  
  
"You said it." Then all of her feelings just sort of fell out right on the table in front of her boyfriend.  
  
"I mean, I thought he was nice! But then he just...he just...thinks he knows everything! He thinks he's got all the answers! He thinks he's ALWAYS right!!!" She finished just as Jess came over with her food. He handed Dean his plate and his coke and then handed Rory her plate.  
  
"Oh, I forgot your coffee..." He went back and brought her coffee. She watched every move he made. How could she be mad at him? He just told her what he thought....it wasn't like he liked her or anything...or trying to get her to break up with Dean right?  
  
"Thanks." She said after he finished pouring her coffee. She took a large drink of it.  
  
"Whoa slow down there, horsey!" Dean said and laughed at her. Jess looked up when he saw the two laughing together, and Tara looked at Jess who was looking and Rory and Dean. She slowly walked over to Rory.  
  
"Hey, Rory!" Dean looked up and saw this beautiful girl before him. Rory looked at him and shifted uncomfortably.  
  
"Hey, Tara...uhh this is my boyfriend, Dean. Dean this is Jess' sister Tara."  
  
"Yeah, I've seen you around school....sometimes. I always wondered who you were."  
  
"Yeah, well, now ya know! So, Rory! You wanna hang out later? I was thinkin about going to see a movie, but it won't be any fun by myself."  
  
"Why don't you ask Jess to go?"  
  
"Well...I don't think he'd wanna go to this movie."  
  
"What movie is it?" Rory questioned.  
  
"Ella Enchanted. It looks really stupid and I want to make fun of it! But Jess said he wouldn't even show his face in that theater...so you wanna come?"  
  
"Umm....sure! What time?"  
  
"Five o'clock ok for you?"  
  
"That sounds perfect!" Rory was excited that she got to spend a little time with Tara...without Jess. No awkwardness! YAY!  
  
"Ok, umm why don't you stop by here at four forty-five and we can stock up on candy and such. Bring a big purse." She winked.  
  
"Sounds like a plan!"  
  
"Ok, see ya later! Bye Dean."  
  
"Bye..." He watched her leave until she was out of sight and then looked back at Rory who had a very unpleasant look on her face. "What?"  
  
"Um, nothing." She looked down at her coffee. "It's nothing..." She muttered, suddenly realizing what it must have been like for Dean to watch her flirt with other guys...and for this she was ashamed even more for her behavior at that party.  
  
FIVE O'CLOCK  
  
"Rory!" Yelled Tara, comming out from the back with an apron on. She greeted her new friend with a warm smile. Tara pulled the curtain away and yelled for Jess to come downstairs. As she was pulling on her jacket, her big brother finally stumbled down the stairs, quite ungracefully. "Ok, me and Rory are goin to see a movie, so take over my shift for me." She threw the apron at him. He looked less than happy.  
  
"Tara, I already worked today! We could have switched shifts if you had told me earlier!"  
  
"Sorry! Love ya lots!" She yelled as she closed the door and walked towards the theater with Rory. "So, how was your day?"  
  
"It was pretty good." Rory looked at Tara as they stood in line for their tickets and realized that this was probably the type of girls that Jess had dated in the past. Beautiful, sexy...she wished she could be like that.  
  
"Jess told me that you and your boyfriend broke up...but then I saw you two together today..and he was flirting with me. By the way, please tell him to stop. Especially if you two are still dating."  
  
"Yeah, well, we're back together. I guess Jess didn't feel the need to mention that..." She felt somewhat relieved that she didn't like Dean flirting with her.  
  
"Hey..." Her eyes started going from side to side, as if she was plotting something. "You wanna do something really really fun?" Rory's eyes lit up a little.  
  
"Well....what did ya have in mind?" Tara smirked.  
  
********  
  
She stared at the building blankly. "We're in New York." She stated. "We're in New York." She said again as if she was not able to fathom it.  
  
"Wow, nothin gets by you does it?" Tara pulled on Rory's arm and into the building where loud music was playing. Rory looked around at all the couples dancing and then the smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke hit her like a slap in the face.  
  
"Tara! Hey, babe!" The two girls turned around to see a tall boy with dark black glasses and brown spiky Hair.  
  
"Camdon, how you doin buddy?" She hugged him, throwing her arms around his neck.  
  
"I'm all right, I guess." He looked behind her shoulder at Rory. "Where's Jess?"  
  
"He's...not here tonight. I brought a friend with me instead. Rory Gilmore, this is Camdon Harce, Camdon, this is Rory." He waved at her and then took Tara by the hand, leading her to a table. Tara picked up two glasses and handed one to Rory. "Here."  
  
"What is it?" Tara smirked, *just exactly like Jess* Rory thought.  
  
"Just drink it."  
  
"It's alcohol."  
  
"Man, you're on a role tonight, girly!" Tara punched Rory in the shoulder and drank half her glass in one gulp. "Common, Rory! Tonight, there's no one here to scold you, no one to put you down, you can do whatever you want and NO ONE has to know! Because I ain't gonna tell nobody! Jess told me what happened with Dean, and you should get to have fun every now and then and if he has a problem with it...just do it behind his back! Tonight is your night, Ms. Gilmore!" She drank the rest of her glass as Rory thought. She squinted and then an angry look appeared on her face, as if she was remembering that she never got to have fun. She nodded and smiled, taking a swig of the substance in the glass. She made a face, but continued drinking. Tonight was going to be full of fun stuff, that's for sure.  
  
By the end of the night, Rory and Tara were both completely drunk. They hopped on a bus to take them back to Stars Hollow, laughing, giggling, and singing slurred songs. They hobbled off the bus and stumbled towards the diner, still singing. "And I-I-I will always, love YOUUUU!!!!!!" They sang at the top of their lungs, getting weird and unkind looks from many people in the town as they passed by. They stumbled into the diner, still singing. They pulled out some chairs at one of the tables and fell as they tried to sit down. They started giggling and about this time, hearing all the ruckus, Luke and Jess came out from the back. Jess stared in horror as he saw his little sister and Rory Gilmore laying on the floor, completely plastered. "Tara, what do you think you're doing!" Yelled Luke as he pulled her up by the arm. She continued laughing.  
  
"Lukey, you're so cute when you get mad!!" She squealed as she pinched his cheeks. Jess came over and helped Rory up. Luke pulled away from Tara and pushed her towards the stairs.  
  
"Jess, take Rory home, make sure she doesn't...faint or something. Tara! Cut it out!" He yelled as she started singing again. He grabbed her arm and and pulled her up the stairs.  
  
"Luke! I can't wait for you to see the tattoo that Rory got! It's sooo cool!"  
  
*****  
  
Rory was practically hanging on to Jess for fear of falling over. "Did I just hear that you got a tattoo?" He asked. She looked up at him and smiled.  
  
"Maybe..." She leaned up to him and whispered in his ear. The hairs on the back of his neck stood to attention at her closeness. She let go of him as they neared her house and strutted, not walked, but strutted down the sidewalk, making Jess run to catch up with her. He pulled at her arm so she would stop.  
  
"Rory, you can't do this! This isn't you, ok?" She turned and continued walking until they got to her yard and then turned around to see Jess following close behind her.  
  
"Isn't me? I'm tired of being me, Jess! I don't wanna be perfect no more!"  
  
"Rory-" she cut him off with a kiss, that was full of passion and longing. *She's obviously drunk or else she wouldn't do this* Jess thought. She finally pulled away and a look of surprise sprung to her face and she backed away from him.  
  
"Jess...." She put her hands on her head, the headaches kicking in.  
  
"Rory, I-"  
  
"Don't...I...I need to go." She ran up the stairs of her porch and fumbled around for her key and went inside as quickly as she could. Everything was getting fuzzy and she felt dizzy. She was barely able to think straight. *I just kissed Jess! Why did I do that? We're just friends, I shouldn't have done that. I was just trying to prove to him that I'm not perfect! Yes, that's the reason.* she thought, trying to convince herself. She all of a sudden felt something weird happening in her stomach. She ran to the bathroom and hovered over the toilet, letting the events of the night flow out of her mouth.  
  
****  
  
Jess walked home, quietly thinking to himself. He hoped no one saw the kiss, only for her sake of course. He knew that perfection must get tiring, but this was entirely unacceptable, especially for Rory Gilmore. This was all Tara's fault. She corrupted the town princess! *And I thought that was my job...* he shook this thought from his head. He would have a long talk with Tara....during her hang over...that would piss her off. Maybe it was time for her to go back to New York.....  
  
*She only kissed me because she was trying to prove that she's a bad girl at heart...which I know is not true of course. We're just friends....right?* he sighed as he walked the rest of the way to Luke's..... *Oh no....Taylor probably saw her drunk...and Babbett and Miss Patty...she's never going to live this down*  
  
*Wait....does this mean she's not mad at me anymore?*  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: Tara's probably not going to be there for much longer...if you couldn't tell. Well, I really appreciate the reviews for the last chapter, but I would still like more!! PLEASE REVIEW!!!!  
  
P.S. This story is going to take a serious turn towards the end, so don't stop reading!!!!! PLEASE!  
  
Bear with me, there will be more rory/jess action in the upcomming chapters!! 


	11. Fights, Makeups, and Explanations

Disclaimer: I own nuthin.  
  
Summary: sort of a filler chapter...sorta not....  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The next morning, Jess woke Tara up with much difficulty. She kicked and called down curses upon him. When he was finally successful, Tara glared at him and foud some clothes. "You know, I could have slept for a WHOLE hour more if you hadn't woken me up!!" She went into the bathroom and slammed the door. "Ow..." She held her head and from outside, she could hear Jess' muffled laughter. "Jerk." She muttered.  
  
She coame out of the bathroom, clad in jeans and a sweatshirt. "Your hang over gone?" Jess asked, almost scaring her half to death.  
  
"No." She moaned as she plopped down on the couch.  
  
"Good." The smile disappeared from his face and he came and towered over her. "Listen, I don't really care what YOU do anymore, but what were you thinkin takin Rory with you! Are you insane!! She and her boyfriend just got back together and he saw her last night!"  
  
"Did she kiss you?" She asked suddenly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Well, when you're drunk, normally you do crazy things so..." She wiggled her eyebrows. "Did she?"  
  
"That's not the point!"  
  
"HA! I knew it!" She continued giggling.  
  
"Tara, stop it!!" He yelled, finally getting her attention. She held her head.  
  
"Don't be so loud...." She groaned.  
  
"I'll be as loud as I want and you can't do anything about it!" She got up to leave, but he grabbed her arm. "You're going to listen to me, ok! Things could be ruined between Rory and Dean when he finds out she went out and went crazy again, no thanks to you!!" She got in his face.  
  
"Like you would have a problem with that." She scoffed.  
  
"Tara! You did this on purpose!!" She smirked at him.  
  
"Do you have a problem with that?....seriously and truthfully?" She seemed pleased with herself and she DID have a point. He really wished Rory and Dean weren't together....  
  
"Well...Tara you've been a lot of trouble lately...and you've been getting a lot of people in trouble too." She lowered her head.  
  
"I was just trying to get some of the these people to loosen up a little."  
  
"But Rory's perfect life is no longer perfect and now everybody knows it and it's all YOUR fault!!!" He yelled as he stormed out of the diner. He knew Rory was going to be given a hard time about this whole thing and it was going to upset her...a lot....and he just wanted her to be happy...  
  
He saw the two Gilmore girls walking towards the diner and unhappily for him, they had decided to take the bridge route...that they hardly ever took. He was dangling his feet over the water when they reached him. "Jess." Lorelai greeted.  
  
"Lorelai." He said without looking up, for fear he would find Rory's eyes.  
  
"Mom, I'll be there in a sec, ok?" Rory whispered. Her mother nodded quietly and left. Rory sat down next to Jess without looking at him. "I'm...I mean, thanks for...taking me home last night. If it wasn't for you, I'd probably been stranded in some alley somewhere and at the mercy of Kirk."  
  
"It's no problem. I'm used to it....you know with Tara and everything." She nodded slowly and looked down at her hands that were rested in her lap.  
  
"Look, about...what happened."  
  
"You were drunk. No need to explain." He got up and began to walk away but he felt her grab his arm.  
  
"But...I DO need to explain, Jess." She pleaded. He turned to look at her with a pained expression.  
  
"Please don't."  
  
"Are you mad at me?" She peeked out from under her eylashes. *she's so beautiful...* Jess thought. *I can't be mad at her. It's almost impossible.*  
  
"No..." He turned and looked out at the water. "I'm guessing you thought it was a mistake." She nodded sullenly.  
  
"I didn't mean to hurt you." She whispered.  
  
"Hurt me? Is that what you think you did?" He laughed, but it came out bitter. "Come on, we're friends, Rory. It's not like it meant anything. It was a...spur of the moment kind of thing." He pulled out a cigarette, which he tended to do when he was upset or nervous. "I get it." He said, while lighting up and then taking a drag.  
  
"Jess-"  
  
"It's fine, Rory. Leave it alone."  
  
"I just wish we could forget that it happened." He took another drag before throwing it into the water, seeing that it bothered Rory.  
  
"Then consider it done." She looked at him surprised and smiled.  
  
"Really? Because I don't want things to be awkward between us."  
  
"Course not." He smirked at her and casually draped an arm over her shoulders. "Now, how 'bout some coffee. I can see that you need it, especially after last night. Hang over?" She looked at him.  
  
"The worst one I've ever had."  
  
"Ever had? You've only been drunk twice." He mused.  
  
"This is the worst of the two, therefore the worst one I've ever had." He chuckled, realizing that he would never understand the Gilmore's. They started walking towards the diner when a male voice was heard behind them.  
  
"Rory." The two turned around, Jess' arm still draped over Rory's shoulders. As soon as he saw it was Dean, his rebellious attitude kicked in and he snuggled her closer to himself. Jess almost laughed out loud at the contorted, disgusted look on Dean's face.  
  
"Yes?" Jess was surprised that she didn't make him let go of her.  
  
"Can we talk." It was more of a demand than a question and Rory knew that he had seen her the night before. Just hopefully not with Jess....Jess...he wouldn't have acted this way towards seeing her drunk if he was her boyfriend. *whoa, Gilmore, don't start thinking about that again. He probably doesn't even like you like that anymore like he did ten years ago...I mean, look at him, he's like this freakin hot god and your just this plain, small town girl. What could he see in you?*  
  
"Um..I really need coffee."  
  
"I'll bet you do." His voice was harsh. "I thought-" he stared at Jess. "Could you leave? We're trying to have a conversation here." Rory silently pleaded with him to go and not make a big fuss over it.  
  
"Sure. See you later, Rory." He smirked and walked into the diner. Rory smiled at him then looked back at Dean who had a large frown on his face.  
  
"We need to talk."  
  
"I know." She walked in step with him as they headed towards her house.  
  
"You...got drunk..again...and you promised-"  
  
"I know...and I'm sorry. I just..I didn't mean to. I-"  
  
"How can you not mean to go out and party and get drunk! I saw you get off that bus with Tara and I'm guessing you guys weren't shopping!" She cowered away from him as he yelled. "You promised me, Rory!"  
  
"I know! I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking! Tara and I just wanted to have a little fun, but I swear that I didn't dance with any guys or flirt with them, I swear!!" But of course that was a lie, she kissed Jess for goodness sakes! Dean looked at her skeptically but then sighed and put an arm around her.  
  
"Just..please tell me when you decide to have one of your crazy nights....ok?" She wondered why he would want to know because he obviously gets upset about it...  
  
"Uh...sure. But it's not going to happen again." She replied with a determined look on her face.  
  
"And I don't like you hanging out with that Jess guy." She frowned.  
  
"Dean...he's a nice guy."  
  
"Yeah and he was a real nerd back a long time ago, but now he's...."  
  
"Different?" She offered.  
  
"Yeah....he's not exactly a dork anymore..or weird looking" Rory almost blushed, but did her best to hold it in. "I just don't like you hanging out with him."  
  
"Dean, he's my friend and I can hang out with him if I want to....he's a good guy, I swear."  
  
"Fine...but I don't have to like him right?"  
  
"No, you don't have to." He smiled and leaned down. Their lips met in a quick kiss before Rory pulled away and went into her house. Her hang over was still there minorly, but enough for it to be rather painful, so she went into her room and laid down. She would have gone to get coffee, but didn't really want to run into Dean again. The phone rang. "No...." She swung her legs back over the bed and tried to find the phone. "Hello?" She held her breath for fear that Dean was 'checking' up on her as usual.  
  
"Rory?"  
  
"Tara, how are you?"  
  
"I'm fine...umm you feeling better?"  
  
"Yeah, I am."  
  
"Jess told me about Dean today. I'm really sorry." There was a silence.  
  
"Yeah. It's ok....so why'd you call?"  
  
"Oh...I just thought you might need some coffee after last night, so....you wanna come on over to the diner." Rory hesitated.  
  
"Well..I really don't want to run into Dean again....but I guess I will."  
  
"Ok. See you in a few. Bye."  
  
"Bye." They hung up and Rory got her coat and left.  
  
LATER THAT NIGHT  
  
Jess had promised Luke that he would close up tonight so he could go do something in Hartford, so he was all alone downstairs cleaning. He went in the back to put the bottles of ketchup and mustard away, but he heard a rustling comming from outside the room. He peered out and saw Tara...with a bag. He sprung out and almost gave her another heart attack. "JESS!" She screamed.  
  
"What are you doing? Leaving without a word to anyone?" He eyed her closely as she gathered her bag onto her shoulder again.  
  
"Yes, well, I have a great model to follow and look at this! He's standing right in front of me!" She laughed slightly, but he stared her down.  
  
"You were going to leave without telling me."  
  
"Jess, I thought you were mad at me and that you wouldn't care."  
  
"Wouldn't care! Are you serious!?" She looked away, ashamed.  
  
"I'm sorry....I mean, I know I've caused a lot of trouble here...and I think it's probably about time for me to head back to the big city." He mumbled something inaudibly. "What was that?"  
  
"I don't want you to go." He said more clearly. She threw her bag off her shoulder and ran around the counter, throwing her arms around his neck. He encircled her waist with his arms and they stood there for awhile just holding one another. She finally backed away and he could have sworn he saw her wipe a tear away.  
  
"Yes you do. You want me to go...deep down you do and that's fine. Really it is! I mean, I'm a pest and I'm troublesome and Luke's threatening to kick me out anyway."  
  
"I want you to stay...just for a little while...." He pleaded, his eyes looking hopeful. She hadn't seen his eyes like that since the day Jimmy was about to leave....  
  
~FLASHBACK~  
  
"Liz, I can't take care of two kids, ok?"  
  
"Fine, you take him, and I'll take her." Liz said, pointing to Tara who was in Jimmy's arms.  
  
"No, I want to take Tara..."  
  
"But, you love Jess more than I do."  
  
"Yeah...but I want to take Tara. I don't have a reason....I just am."  
  
"Fine..." She mumbled. Jimmy sat Tara down to go and say goodbye to her mother and he went over to Jess who was reading quietly in the corner on his favorite chair.  
  
"Hey..." Jess looked up, fixed his glasses upon his nose better, and smiled at his father.  
  
"Hey, D-dad!"  
  
"Listen, Jess..."  
  
"Hey, can we go to a-a Yankees game th-this weekend? I've been r-really wanting to go a-and-"  
  
"Jess." Jimmy laid on a hand on his son's arms gently to get him to stop talking. Jess looked up with questioning eyes. "I'm leaving."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm taking Tara with me...."  
  
"How long will y-you be g-gone?" Jess asked, standing up. Jimmy's hand fell from Jess' arm as he stood up, towering over his son. He turned around.  
  
"Forever." He whispered, but loud enough for Jess to hear it. Jess ran in front of his dad.  
  
"W-why?" He questioned, his bottom lip quivering and panic in his voice.  
  
"Because I don't love your mother anymore." He replied simply.  
  
"Dad, n-no! You c-can't leave! P-please s-stay!!" Jimmy looked into Jess' hopeful eyes and almost changed his mind for his son's sake. He hated leaving him here with this woman who didn't even care for him and said that her own son embarrassed her, but he had no choice. He pushed past Jess and left him staring after him and his little sister.  
  
Jimmy became depressed a couple of years later after he lost his job and his girlfriend that he actually cared about broke up with him. He starting hitting Tara and losing control of himself. If only he had taken Jess with him as well, maybe someone could have helped him. He and Jess had always had some kind of understanding even though he was little...  
  
~END OF FLASHBACK~  
  
"I'm sorry, Jess." He nodded in understanding.  
  
"Are you crying, young lady?" He mocked as he saw her wipe a tear from her face.  
  
"Never." She puffed out her chest and picked up her bag. "I love you, Mariano."  
  
"I love you too, Mariano" she smiled at him before turning around and walked out the door. Jess had been mad at her, but then all of a sudden, he wasn't. He could never be mad a girl who had nothing but love and dedication for him. He sighed quietly and went back to wiping down tables.  
  
NEXT DAY  
  
Rory and Lorelai walked into the diner, Rory very carefully trying to avoid the route that would lead them past Doosie's. A very hard route indeed.... "Rory!" But nonetheless it didn't seem to work.  
  
"Dean!" She greeted as he kissed her quickly.  
  
"Hey, Lorelai." He smiled brightly.  
  
"You seem happy." Lorelai observed. "Anything happy happen?"  
  
"No, just really happy to see my girlfriend today." She forced a smile for him.  
  
"So, you working today?"  
  
"Nope, I'm all yours." His grin was actually getting very annoying.  
  
"Oh..um we were just going to get some coffee-"  
  
"You want to join us?" Lorelai chimed in even though she didn't know that Rory wasn't going to invite him to have coffee.  
  
"Of course!" He took Rory's hand in his and they walked to the diner. "Wow, they're busy today." Lorelai and Rory nodded in agreement. After they waited for about twenty minutes Lorelai yelled for Luke to come over, but he was too busy.  
  
"Maybe, I should just go up to the counter or something."  
  
"YES! And get me coffeee!! Go child, do your duty." Rory laughed and went over to where Jess was at the counter. He looked up and smirked.  
  
"I see you and Mr. Bean Pole are ok again?"  
  
"Yes, we're fine and dandy." She looked around. "Hey can you get Tara down here?" He got two cups and poured coffee in each of them without looking up. When he finally did, he met her confused eyes. He sighed.  
  
"I can't."  
  
"Why?" She questioned.  
  
"Because she's gone." Rory almost fell off of the stool that she was sitting on.  
  
"What do you mean she's gone? She wouldn't leave without saying goodbye..." She thought for a moment. "Unless she's more like you than I think she is."  
  
"She didn't think she should stay here anymore after all the trouble she caused."  
  
"Trouble! She didn't cause trouble!" Jess gave her 'the look'. "Ok, so maybe she wasn't the best example...but....I'm gonna miss her."  
  
"Yeah me too." They both sighed.  
  
"Can you come and take our order?" He nodded and followed her over to their table. Both were unaware at the constant glaring by Dean while they had been talking at the counter.  
  
~LATER THAT EVENING~  
  
"Sure, Mom, that'd be wonderful!" Rory walked in as she heard her mother talking on the phone. "Whoa, you're going too?" Rory came in and sat on the couch next to Lorelai. "All right...I guess all I go...bye." Lorelai hung up the phone and looked at her daughter. "I'm going to a spa with my mother." Rory's mouth almost dropped to the ground.  
  
"With grandma? That's hardly believable."  
  
"I know! But she kind of just sucked me into it....into Emily World...." She stared off into space to make a dramatic effect.  
  
"Mom.....mom!" Rory snapped her fingers in front of Lorelai's face.  
  
"Whoa! Sorry!"  
  
"So you're really going?" Lorelai shrugged.  
  
"I guess so...it'll be awful, but I'll be at a spa...and don't they MAKE you be quiet there or something?"  
  
"Something like that." Rory laughed and turned on the T.V.  
  
"Will and Grace!" Lorelai squealed. They watched for awhile and then Lorelai looked over at her daughter who had a odd look on her face. "Hey, babe, what's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing. Why?"  
  
"You just....look upset...that's all..."  
  
"Well, I'm not."  
  
"Are you sure? Because sometimes you SAY that but then I can tell you are lying to me and I hate it when you lie to me because then things get all awkward because I KNOW you lied to me but you don't know that I know that you lied to me which makes it even more awkward-"  
  
"Tara's gone." Rory said sadly. Lorelai looked lovingly upon her daughter.  
  
"I'm sorry babe." Rory looked away. "Are you ok?"  
  
"Yeah..." Lorelai looked at her with a non-believing face. "I will be. I'm just gonna miss her is all. We had gotten to be good friends..."  
  
"Well, we all knew she was going to leave at some time or another." Rory nodded once again.  
  
"I think Jess is upset too."  
  
"I wouldn't doubt it."  
  
"He loves her, ya know?" She put her arms across her chest and hugged herself tightly.  
  
"Yeah, babe, I know." Lorelai enveloped Rory into a hug and they sat there quietly until Rory fell asleep. "He loves you too..." Lorelai whispered before slowly getting out from Rory's grasp and laying her daughter's head gently down on the couch. She covered her with a blanket and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, sweetie..."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: Sorry if Jess is a little OOC, but I'm trying to make him a little different than he is in the show, like the whole caring whether or not Dean and Rory are "ok" because he only wants Rory to be happy thing because he's suppose to have a more visible sweet side to him...in my story.  
  
I keep trying to update sooner but it never works, because I always have so much freakin homework to do! And as this school year comes to a close, I'm beginning to realize that I'm not doing all that great is some certain subjects....so I'm flipping out. But I will try and update sooner next time! Oh and by the way, don't forget that close to the end of this story, something drastic will happen and it's most likely not what you think it is *winks*, so keep reading and you'll find out :) PLEASE REVIEW!!!!  
  
Comming up: Lorelai goes to the spa and Jess brings a care package....can you say: scenes from There's the Rub? 


	12. I thought we wuz friends, huck

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.  
  
Summary: Dean finds Jess and Rory at her house....alone....  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"So, you're mom's going to be gone tonight?" Dean asked.  
  
"Uh yeah, she is."  
  
"So what do you want to do then? I could come over and we could eat junk food and watch movies....what? What's wrong?" He asked, seeing the look on his girlfriend's face.  
  
"I was kind of just wanting to hang out alone tonight....do some laundry watch a sad girly movie..." His face expressed utter dissapointment. "I'm sorry..." She kissed his cheek quickly and walked away.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Ok, you make sure and do something naughty while mommy's gone all right..." She paused for a moment and turned to look at her daughter who was following her through the house. "Well...not...TOO naughty."  
  
"MOM!" Lorelai laughed.  
  
"I'm just kidding! So, are you inviting Dean over tonight?" Rory paused, thinking.  
  
"Umm...No. I just kind of want to be alone tonight."  
  
"All right...fine. But do something that normal parents would find wrong...at least something small...like...sneaking some of the liquor I got me stored in the liquor cabinet." She said with a hillbilly accent.  
  
"Mom, go! Grandma's waiting!"  
  
"Yeah, love you too!!" Rory laughed and closed the door. She looked around the empty house, realizing she was now alone. What could she do? Laundry! Yes, there was definate need of doing laundry at the Gilmore household.  
  
Later, she started to get hungry. She looked at her watch. "Seven O'clock." She said aloud, sighing to herself. There was a knock at the door. She stood up from the couch and went to the door and opened it. It revealed none other than Jess Mariano. "J-Jess." She stuttered. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I brought over a care package. Luke heard your mom was gonna be gone for the night, SO he sent this over. Where should I put it? Kitchen?" He headed past her before she could answer.  
  
"Uh..sure." She followed him and watched him unload it. She started to get nervous. What if Dean called? What if he came over?! He would flip out! He finally finished unloading and turned to face her. "What?" She asked as he held out his hand.  
  
"Tip, please. I offered you my services, now I would like a tip." She sighed heavily.  
  
"You want money?"  
  
"I could take a fry and be satisfied." She was thankful that he didn't want any money, because frankly, she didn't have money to give.  
  
"Uh, sure. Have as much as you want." She crossed her arms as he took of his jacket and laid it on the counter. "Jess, what are you doing?"  
  
"Eating." He replied simply. "Didn't you just invite me?" *danget! He caught me!* she screamed at herself.  
  
"No..."  
  
"Yes you did, you just said I could have as much as I wanted."  
  
"I know..." She sighed, defeated. They both sat down in the chairs that were around the table.  
  
"Why do you want me to leave?" He questioned. "I thought we wuz friends, Huck. I thought we wuz friends." He said in a hillbilly accent and got up, pretending to leave.  
  
"Ok, no need to quote 'Tom and Huck'." She pulled him back down by his sleeve into his chair.  
  
"So? Why do you want me to leave so badly? Oh wait, I get it. Bag boy's commin over tonight isn't he? You don't want him to catch me here." She looked away from him. "Is that it?" She nodded.  
  
"I'm sorry...you don't have to go. I told him not to come over, but you know how Dean is." Jess laughed.  
  
"Yeah, unfortunately." They both laughed and began to eat. After their long discussions of books and movies, and music all the while eating tons of food, they went into Rory's room to look at her books. "Hey, this is mine!" He said, looking at one of the hardback books of Oliver Twist. Rory looked up at him.  
  
"Oh yeah, you left it on the bridge that day that you-" her face got extremely red and she looked away from him. He seemed unfased by what she just said and kept looking at his old book. "Jess why did you leave?" He set the book down and looked at her.  
  
"Because I had to." He stated simply before walking out into the living room. He studied the pictures on the mantle, taking in each one in their simplicity. She was so beautiful and he knew that Dean didn't deserve her. No one did. His eyes fell on one picture in particular. It was the day of the Stars Hollow Elementary Fundraising Picnic. Fundraising for what, he never knew, but he went anyway because Luke made him. He decided he could just read a book under a tree and steal somebody's food. No of course not, stealing was wrong- he used to think, but now he wasn't too sure.  
  
"I didn't want you to go." She said as she came up behind him. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and then looked back at the picture. "I remember that day..." She smiled as she took the picture he was holding.  
  
~Flashback~  
  
"Jess, go to the picnic." Luke demanded.  
  
"D-don't wanna!" He shoved Jess out the door.  
  
"GO!" Jess stumbled onto the sidewalk and looked around the small town. It was so much different from New York. He walked over to the school and sat down by a nearby tree, pulling out his book. He got completely lost in it, not hearing the footsteps comming towards him. The person stood above him until he finally looked up.  
  
"R-rory?" He choked out. His palms got sweaty and his face turned red as she sat down next to him, leaning up against the tree. He adjusted his glasses on his nose better and looked straight ahead, not sure of what to say to her.  
  
"Hey, Jess." She smiled. His hands started to shake so he set his book down in his lap, taking this opportunity to discretely wipe the sweats droplets from his brow. "What are you reading?" He looked at her and then picked up his book for her to read the title. "That's a good book." He nodded and tried to go back to reading. She pulled a book out of her bag that she had been carrying over her shoulder and began to read as well. By nightfall, Rory had fallen asleep and lain her head on Jess' shoulder. He didn't move for an hour, hoping she would stay there forever.  
  
She sat up and yawned. "Jess?" She rubbed her eyes sleepily.  
  
"H-hey." He adjusted his glasses. "You f-fell a-asleep. I d-didn't w-want to w-wake y-you." She smiled at him sweetly before standing up. He stood up as well and faced her.  
  
"Thanks, Jess." She turned around to walk away but stopped and looked back at him. "You know, you're not as weird as everyone says you are. You're really nice." He smiled that crooked smile of his and blushed in the dark.  
  
"B-bye, R-rory." He walked back to the diner on cloud 9 that beautiful, stary night.  
  
~End of Flashback~  
  
He turned around and took the picture from her delicate hands and placed it back upon the mantle where it belonged. "I'm not sorry I kissed you." She whispered, not once breaking eye contact. "I was drunk, but I knew exactly what I was doing." She paused. "And exactly why I was doing it." His heart almost stopped at her words. She brought her face closer and closer to his..  
  
"Rory..." Jess warned, full aware that he did NOT come here for this and was not ready to have to deal with the awkwardness that would most definitely follow. She put her finger to his lips to quiet him. Slowly, she continued bringing her face towards him....  
  
KNOCK KNOCK  
  
Jess pulled back completely out of her grasp and watched her face carry a panicked expression. She walked to the door and opened it. "Dean!" She yelped. "Umm..what are you doing here?" She asked, trying not to act strange. He pushed past her gently and closed the door.  
  
"I came to see you."  
  
"But I told you-" she started, shaking her head and crossing her arms across her chest.  
  
"I know, I know, but I really wanted to see you." He began to walk into the living room and Rory closed her eyes tightly, preparing herself for the screaming that would follow. "RORY!!!!" She sighed and walked into the room as calmly as she could.  
  
"Dean, I know what your thinking-"  
  
"No, I'm pretty sure you don't, because if you did, you would hate me right about now!" He yelled. Jess stood in the corner, not sure of what to say so he stayed quiet and watched them battle it out.  
  
"Dean, listen, he just came over and brought me some food...from Luke's, that's all!"  
  
"Then why is he still here? Huh? And why don't I see any food anywhere? Shouldn't you be eating while he is LEAVING!!!?"  
  
"We were just-"  
  
"I don't want to hear it Rory!" He screamed. "I can't believe this! I knew something was going on between the two of you, I just didn't want to see it! This is ridiculous!!!"  
  
"Dean, we're just friends, that's all. I swear! Please believe me!" She pleaded. He sighed quietly and his voice became calmer.  
  
"Rory...I can't. You've just...you've done things these past couple of months that..I don't really want in a girl. I wanted a girl that you used to be. I just don't think I can do this anymore. I'm sorry." He left quietly. Jess stared at Rory intently, waiting for a reaction. Was she going to make him leave? Was she going to cry? Was she going to scream? She just stood there, like nothing had happened.  
  
"You want to watch a movie?" He continued to stare at her and she looked away from him. "Stop looking at me like that. I don't like it when people look at me like that."  
  
"Sorry." He turned his head away from her and searched for something else he could look at. "Rory, listen, I'm sorry about Dean, if I had known you guys would end up breaking up....partly because of me...I would have never come over here." He shook his head sadly. "I should...go." He headed towards the door and picked up his jacket. Rory couldn't just let him leave like that could she?  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Mom, stop talking, this is a SPA!"  
  
"Well, how are you suppose to have a decent conversation with someone when you're not allowed to talk!" Lorelai waved her arms in the air.  
  
"Mom, stop talking." She whispered harshly. "No one likes it when people talk at a spa. People come here to relax...not to listen to some crazy lady talk her brains out just for the sake of talking." She laid down on the chair and motioned for her mother to go into her own room.  
  
"Fine, but excuse me for trying to have a decent conversation with my own daughter." She exited Lorelai's room with a huff. Lorelai smiled triumphantly and leaned her head back and closed her eyes.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
She listened to the door close before she made up her mind. She grabbed her jacket and ran to the door. She opened it and ran outside onto the front porch. "Jess, wait!" Her eyes scanned the yard, but saw no one. "Jess?" She started to run but a voice stopped her.  
  
"Where are you going?" She gasped quietly, knowing who that voice belonged to. "Looking for me?" She whipped around and wiped a tear away that had fallen silently, smirking at him. The one who could always make her smile. He was standing under a tree in all his mystery.  
  
"I thought you left." She pulled her jacket tighter around herself and stared at him with questioning eyes.  
  
"Nah, I was gonna stick around and make sure Dean didn't come back after he was sure I had gone." She smiled at him and he smirked back at her. "Didn't want you to have to deal with something you couldn't handle alone." He put an arm around her. "Let's go back inside." They entered the house and Jess shut the door quietly. They sat down on the couch and Rory turned on the T.V.  
  
"Jess?" She kept her eyes on the screen. "I always thought I would be the one to break up with him, ya know? He's so possessive and junk. If it had gotten any worse, I would have broken up with him." Jess nodded and kept his eyes on the screen as well. "I meant what I said....before Dean showed up." She sniffed and looked over at him, his chocolate brown eyes meeting her blue ones. She kissed his cheek. "I hated that you left that day...I realized that I really liked you...and I never forgot you after all these years. I always thought about you, as crazy as that sounds, I did." He slowly brought his face closer to hers, almost afraid this was moving too fast for her, but she was the one who closed the distance between them. It was a quick kiss, but both felt the sparks. He pulled away from her and stood up. His confidence had somehow been shattered.  
  
"I'm..I'm s-sorry." He stuttered. His stutter would sometimes come back if he was nervous. "I s-shouldn't h-have done th-that." She stood up as well and stood directly in front of him.  
  
"Jess, I know that this is going to sound insane, but ever since I started dating Dean, I've always had you in the back of my mind." She pecked his lips one more time. He smiled.  
  
"Would you...are we...together?" He asked, afraid to look at her.  
  
"Only if you want us to be. But I want to take things slow...because I am upset about Dean, but I also want to be with you...so we'll-"  
  
"Take things slow. Got it." He finished.  
  
"So, you want to be with me?" She questioned, almost skeptically.  
  
"I would like nothing better." He kissed her lovingly. "I should go..." He whispered.  
  
"You don't have to."  
  
"I think I should though." He winked at her and kissed her one last time before leaving. She sighed happily and fell back on the couch...almost satisfied with her life, but the dark cloud of Dean still hung over her head but she knew that soon Jess would blow that cloud away with an easy breeze.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to update! Please forgive! I hope you liked it!!! 


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